Teaching and the Realities of Life

In the last three months since I last posted things have been busy, but not a pot to show for it.  Not entirely true, yesterday I took the apprentice for a ride out and treated myself to a wonderful Tenmoku mug/tankard by James Hake.  He have me very good advice over the last few years, not that I always listened.  Yet to christen the mug I have plans to this evening once the older one is settled for the night.

The last few months I haven't been down to the studio as I am now doing my PGCE, I am training at one local college and teaching at the other.  There is plenty of course work and more academic reading than I have ever done as a necessity on any other course I have studied.  In teaching there are lots of theories that I either don't agree with or don't find any use with the field of Art and Design.

It is all very different to my experience as a learner so I am still trying to find my feet in the world of  "Fine Art".  My education was always very hands on, always learning something new, preparing you for the next stage, the next step, but they seem very settled in their routines.  I have a kiln and a couple bags of clay at my placement, just not much messy space.

When I get back to my wheel I am going to throw what I want to throw and not think about what will sell, I'm sure that may come in again at some point in my far future if I ever decide to become a full time potter.  For now there is so much I have to do and not enough time for that, that the things I want to do will take a back burner.

Right now I'm not entirely certain what my future will bring but right now I prefer it that way.

Creative Blackpool

Two Events I am attending this week that my work is entered into, ArtBURST is opening tonight (16th August 5-9) so I am taking the new apprentice to see if he can get a hang of at least one element of the art world as he apparently still can't work in the studio for me.

ArtBURST has my stoneware with some older pieces as well as some new stacking bowls I made recently.

Me&FYC starts tomorrow (17th August), my latest work which is the sgraffito earthenware is for sale there, there are mugs and pin bowls, with two different Blackpool buildings and the boats that I designed for Fleetwood.  I will be there for the opening too, but I won't have the new apprentice with me.

My New Apprentice

My New Apprentice - little boy 9lb 13oz b. 12th July

Not much has been done recently at the pottery, there isn't much sleep since the new apprentice arrived, he disturbs our sleep and it up at all hours day and night.  He is trying to eat us out of house and home, and refuses to do any work.

I got out to the studio today to glaze some stoneware pots, they are loaded and waiting in the kiln to be fired for ArtBurst in Blackpool next month.

Fleetwood Library

Composite of Images from my Instagram Account.

For the whole of July all my new work is at Fleetwood Library.  I grew up in Fleetwood and I remember using the library there when it was brand new, and I am happy to have a show there.  Please go along and see the show, all of the new work is based on drawing and pictures I made in Fleetwood over the past few months.

Sneak Preview - Earthenware Pottery

Took a few pictures as I unloaded the kiln, and I refilled it too, only trouble is I forgot to put one last mug in, so it will have to be bisque fired with the stoneware pots I have waiting to be fired. I have decided I want to up my game when it comes to my photography after reading quite a few articles and looking back at my photographs, it can only be for the better.

Contents of the kiln after the earthenware glaze firing

I have a busy few days so I won't be taking photographs of individual pots for a few days, are there any in particular people would like to see?

Sgraffito or Carving, I can't decide

I have been making some Terracotta pots over the last week, so I have been working with carving and sgraffito tools.  I find that the pots spend a tremendous amount of time under plastic waiting for me and for them to be at the "right stage" time and patience is required.  I really am learning that even waiting takes time.

Here are some of the pieces in progress for my up coming exhibition.  All based on drawings I have done around the town.

Fleetwood Bowls

Fleetwood Boxes

Fleetwood pin dishes

The Carving tool and some of the pin dishes.

New shelves and Workbench.

Earlier in the week I made myself some shelves and a workbench.  I have been working the last few days to try and get some pots on the shelves, for my exhibition at Fleetwood Library next month.  Today I made 3 slab boxes and a single tray, I have 11 pin bowls that have been slipped and need sgraffito decorated, I have to fill a couple of cabinets so need to keep making.

The shelves are removable and I can put one above my wheel while I work

The workbench, made from the scrap wood and leftover pieces from the Shelves

The workbench stands at 40 inches tall and fits down the side of the shelves when I don't need it. 

Adam Field's Workshop

Yesterday I attended a workshop organised by Hannah McAndrew at the Solway Ceramics Centre near Carlisle.  I haven't been to the Solway Ceramics centre before but it was really interesting and the facilities were amazing with three wood fired kilns.

The morning was taken up with Adam Field talking about his work before, during, and after Korea.  His videos of both himself and Korean Potters throwing Onggi on his website are well worth the watch.

In the afternoon he demonstrated the work he does with porcelain, he explained throwing from a technical perspective and how it works.  His explanation of how throwing works is one of the best for explaining how throwing works.  He took us through throwing his cups, and a storage jar, talking about his designs.

Adam Field Carving a Cup

Working with fifths he divided his cup before carving in the pattern, which is based on triangles forming the structure.

Adam Field's Carved Cup

"no surface is left unconsidered" - Adam Field

Adam Field's work that he made with Doug Fitch

It was a really good day but I have lots of ideas so have been recording them in a sketchbook, that I just started specifically with ideas of different project and tools I want to make etc.

Lots to do this week I have more prototyping to do and hopefully earthenware sgraffito to do too.

Throwing Large Platters

Today I uploaded some pictures to Twitter as I threw some large platters.  I was feeling out of practice, I tried to throw the first one with throwing the whole lump at once.  I noticed I just don't have the strength after not throwing bigger pots over the winter, so to get round it I flattened the clay by pounding it with my fists as it slowly rotates, then as it forms a disc slap it and then use a rib to smooth it off.

I trimmed the base so then it was a completely round disc.  I coiled the sides on and then threw them up, trimmed the wonky top and then used a large piece of chamois leather to give it a nice strong edge.  I trimmed round the base to remove the excess then wired it off.

Rough Disc Formed

disc scratched and coil prepared.

We ended up with a spring shower just as I needed to roll out the slab so did it very roughly in the air and then just a quick roll on my paving slab so it didn't pick up too much water.

Sides thrown on and swirl added across the base.

I made two in total and both are now drying, I must find the rest of my amazing Doug Fitch bats for when I finally get shelves sorted.

Working on the New Website

Thanks to the amazing guys at Awesome Horse Studios I have been inspired to rework my website redfoxpottery.com and they gave me plenty of advice along the way of how to fix it.

Top of the image how the website was till recently.  Lower Part how it was last week

It started last summer when Noah Bradley made a post on his own website "I Hate Your Portfolio" it is a very good read and I recommend it.  It took a while to get together with my friend that actually does web programming, though once I did we got the bare bones done in a day and then it got left not even uploaded till March.

Then Saturday evening two weeks ago Marc Scheff was giving a lecture on improving your portfolio, a few days later I emailed him for advice and he game me some pointers, removing all the waffling text from the front page and just leaving a three beat description.  He also advised me to  create sections for "workshops" and "private instruction".

I didn't really understand html and css when I started moving things around on this website, but know I feel a lot more confident about altering things myself.

Top How the Gallery was last week, Lower how it is now, much tidier using all images the same size.

My images are only temporary whilst I work on the new range and the updated Sea and Sand range.  Feel free to look at the website, there will continue to be updates on the website with little changes to sections of text.

Thanks to Noah, Marc and Jordan for making the whole redesign possible.

A brief intermission

I have a more definite idea of what I want to do for the surface pattern, I just need to get some sketches done and worked through.

Last week I taught a clay workshop with the help of Michelle, she did the monsters while I did the throwing, it felt good after the break to get my hands back in the mud.  So now I have some monsters and some bowls drying in my kitchen, they should be done in plenty of time to return them.

I have lots to keep my fingers crossed with this week.  Also trying to set up a temporary space to work from, and looking at selling my unused kiln, the Nabertherm is all I need at the moment and I have plenty of kiln space that I can borrow locally.

2nd piece of ceramics I ever made with various reduced Stoneware Glazes

I have been tidying the house over the weekend and pulled everything out from under the stairs, and I found this piece of ceramics hiding, this is the second piece of work that I ever made, we have to construct over several weeks various geometric forms, lean to keep our work damp and sealed against drying then once we had made all the forms join them together.  All my forms here are hollow  and either made from slabs, extrusions or pinch pots joined together.  When I think about these now a days I wonder if I could make them on a much grander scale.

Inspiration Part 2ii - The Design Drawings.

As I mentioned in a Previous Post I want quite a small range of pots, with a few different sizes to make kiln firings as economical as possible, to use up the space effectively.  I don't want to make too many forms as I would rather 6 well made forms than 10 or so badly made different sorts of pots.

When I first started looking at doing it I thought about doing some stacking bowl forms of varying sizes but I might work those out at a different time, working out a few designs is complicated enough while investing a lot of energy into surface pattern.  Making only five or six designs is a piece of advice that James Hake always strains to me every time I meet him, so this time I am going to listen.

So only the following things made it to the final list:

• Mug
• Bowl
• Jug
• Platter
• Tyg
• Pancheon 

I also want pots with a a large Surface are to decorate, whether that be inside or outside of the pot.  Though decoration for interior and exterior would have to be done differently.  I also have to take into account when designing the maximum dimensions of my kiln, with the workable areas being 36cm (14") diameter and 32cm (12.5") height. I had previously thought they were 30 by 30 but just a touch bigger, turns out a touch is quite a few centimetres.

I feel that maybe there sure be something smaller still to fill up any gaps but they will have to be made from slabs, and really be for practising the surface pattern.

Bowls

When I first started with the ideas of bowls, I thought about using a very low wide bowl to decorate on the inside but half way through I started thinking about decorating the outside instead and what different forms that could come from that.  On a few of the designs I took half of the drawing and made it into a cut away section to imagine the thickness of the pot and the foot ring.

Rough Workings for designing a Bowl

The two main drawings I liked after talking to my wife where a very wide bowl with a small foot ring and one that is chunkier with a a foot ring that would have to be carved out of a mass of clay to work.  Though I like both of these, I realise that for standard ware of something that is going to be made a lot a carved foot ring probably isn't the best solution.

Roughing out proportions for Bowls

Not happy with these but erased them so many times, will have to work on them a bit more to get them like the sketches and working out the dimensions so then they have those nice lines they had.  The bottom one just needs a bit more flaring out  at the top, but the top one needs redrawing completely.  I might blow it up with the printer and try that way.

You have to consider the "wheat biscuit principle" which has two factors: 

1. being able to fit four wheat biscuits comfortably in the bowl (dimensions of the well known brand being 4" by 2" by 1/2")
2. the milk to cereal ratio in the bowl. It is a very complicated one I don't understand that was added by my mother.

I don't think a wide shallow bowl would fit either of these factors

Cups

I worked up a sheet for the cups, but cups are what I struggle to design the most and found most of my ideas were contrived.  I also want to design a cup that you couldn't just make in a one part slip casting mould, there are a number of ways to achieve it by undercutting and such but the easiest is to flip the form over and put the opening where the foot would be on a one part mould.

Roughing out proportions for Cups (handle designs need doing)

I am not sure of the proportions of these and will need to see them after being thrown on the wheel before I change what is happening, there is just something about them that doesn't sit right.  I am more inclined to choose the one on the let as I am more likely to be able to squeeze three layers into the kiln, with 12cm tall I simply wouldn't be able to.

Pancheon

When I think Pancheon, I do think of Paul Jessop, I wish I had paid better attention when I visited Barrington Pottery back in September to gain more of a sense of his wonderful Pancheons.  So researching these they are supposed to be wide and not very deep, my concern is that I can't fire them wide enough in my kiln to give them justice.

Roughing out proportions for Pancheon

I am not entirely sure which design would work best, I am inclined towards the top design as it would seem wider for not being as tall.  Though on the other hand because of some Northern attitude I feel inside you want the largest volume possible, not convinced this is the right attitude so will make both and see what comes out of it. While writing this I checked the measurements of my kiln and could take them up to 36cm (14") wide, which means I can add on that extra width, but I will have to check a

Jugs

I borrowed Bernard Rackham's Mediaeval Potsfrom the library and read through it once and looked through all the pictures numerous times and all I could think when I looked at all the the Jugs was Doug Fitch, every jug in that book I seem to have seen made by Doug at some point.

Surrey Jug from Bernard Rackham's Mediaeval Pots

I do like this form and I feel that I could achieve this after a few attempts, I feel a bit rusty after having not thrown for a few weeks, but I am throwing this week no matter what as I am teaching  Thursday afternoon.  It is a very pleasing form, one that caught my eye instantly as I flicked through the pages.

York type Baluster Jug from Bernard Rackham's Medieval Pots

I would love to throw some Baluster jugs but would take me a bit more practise and would mean stretching myself a bit more, but I am interested in the challenge and will give a really big surface to decorate, I know how to slip them, I will just need to practise the decoration thoroughly with all the curves these jugs provide.

Trying to Learn the form of a Baluster.

I doodled through some roughs for the Baluster form, it is going to be an interesting process designing all the curves, where they fit together with should, belly and foot, but actually throwing what I design is going to be interesting with it being such a tall slender form.

Tyg

I saw my first Tyg whilst at the Harris Museum in Preston during my repeat second year when we were looking at Pottery that had been designed for the Preston Guild.  They were highly decorated covered with inscriptions and poems that I didn't pay as much attention to as I should have.  I remember them talking about the traditions of communal drinking before Preston became Teetotalin the 19th century.

The other time I have really seen these are Paul Jessop's Wassail Cups, unlike Barrington Court I don't know of any nearby apple orchards where they celebrate and hold a festival to give back to the orchard. (My house is supposed to have been built on an apple orchard, which is why there isn't clay close to the surface like there are on neighbouring roads.)

I made some not very good versions in stoneware and never really glazed them, or did anything with them, they are still sat on my table with other small bits of biscuit pottery inside.  Tyg's aren't used day to day but still they are something I want to make from time to time even though I am not convinced they will be commercially viable but I want to be able to write verse on these.

Tyg from Bernard Rackham's Mediaeval Pots

I have yet to do a design for the Tyg, as I want to play around with the idea a little bit more.


Platter

For my platter form, as much as I can throw something round, I really want to do a squared off dish more like this one by Ron Philbeck.  Though for a rectangular dish like that I would need a mould.

I doodled some designs just nothing concrete as I if I go done the rectangular dish approach I either have to source or make a mould.



To Finish

I must note I usually work in Pen whilst designing but I haven't ever designed before knowing that it would go out to such a large audience and that made me feel a little uncertain, as I will be judged how this develops once it is in clay, I was at my degree too but I cared very little while I was learning, I had been at university for 7 years over my different courses and just wanted it to end. 

Recently I have considered an MA, but can't really justify the cost and I don't like the idea of going back to UCLAN, if I did it would have to be something where I could play around with kiln firings like at Loughborough with their nice new anagama kiln. But with another little one on the way it would be stupid.

When I first considered designing this my thoughts where very much on the new Leach Pottery Standard ware,  but as I started to but pencil to paper I wanted to avoid the forms being too similar to them, but they seem to have leaned very close to Ron Philbeck instead with various forms and then Doug and Paul with their amazing pots too.

Coming next time, I am going to be doing a more on the surface pattern, trying to work things out with inks and some of the other materials I have around here.

Another long week, but some how Sunday again

I don't usually talk about my family as the blog it for my work, but it has been one of those weeks where I have had to put my work on hold, I have started the design drawings for Part 2ii but I need more time to finish off.  I have been drawing a lot more trying to keep in mind Sgraffito techniques when drawing here are a few of the drawings over the last week.

 Last Sunday my little boy got take into hospital and I spent a lot of time sat by his bed with a chest infection and asthma that my GP has denied he has had in the past.  He finally came out of hospital on Tuesday so as a family the only thing we did for Valentines, wasn't sending card or anything like that but being happy the little one was home and we shared a Sticky Toffee Pudding I bought last week, as it was what I had on my first date with my wife.

Wednesday we were back at the hospital again because my wife is pregnant with our second little one who at the moment is going by the name of Umbrella.  We were at the hospital over 3 hours.

Yesterday we met up with some of the folks from H2G2 which is a website I used to spend a lot of time on and I made friends on, but more importantly since the Community bought the site off the BBC my wife has become an Arts Editor, so it was a chance for her to meet some of the other editors.  We went to Manchester and I spent most of the day drawing at MOSI.

Back to designing now.

Inspiration Part 2i - Developing an Earthenware Range

At this stage I am merely looking at Design, I have yet to make any products as I am not in a workspace.  I have a couple of ideas of forms I want to use but, will have to throw them and see, as I can't judge anything before it is made.  These are just my firs impressions of what I am doing and will be working on a bit more on development the next week or two in a sketchbook.

So the question some may ask is "If you are already making a range of stoneware with a design you like why design a new range of earthenware?" There are a few reasons and I know it can be risky to make two different ranges at once in case you get stretched out across two ranges but my reasons are as follows.

• To be creative and have a play around
• With Earthenware I could eventually source clay from lancashire
• I don't have masses of orders for 'Sea and Sand' as it stands
• With 'Sea and Sand' I want use gas firings, but with Earthenware I don't mind electric
• It is cheaper to fire in my Electric Kiln
• When teaching I often slip decorate on the stoneware (examples to follow)
• I already have some pre-made slips I can play around with.

Image from http://www.thrownclay.co.uk/wetheriggs.htm where it is for sale

Speaking with Gwynneth Rixon both here and on Facebook about Earthenware and slip decorating and the work of Isaac Button and Wetheriggs.  I have previously watched the Isaac button videos on  youtube but only whilst talking to her did I realise that I was born around 22 miles from where he worked, and Wetheriggs is the place where I first tried the pottery wheel as my wife wanted to try throwing during our first year.  (I tried to revisit Wetheriggs two years ago but it had become an animal Sanctuary)(Guy Wolff worked at Wetheriggs according to this post by Hannah McAndrew)

The Thing that then got me thinking about slip decoration was the following video:

For those that haven't seen it Jessica Fong making “Night Platter” video by Fetishghost

I know it is an old drawing but reduce reuse and recycle.

When I saw that video it made me think of my old ink drawings (which is how I got started on this project).  I had some that used red and green too,  and I fully intend to work on some new sheets for this project.

Skipping Step One of mind mapping it has already been done here.

Step Two - Mood Boards

I created the mood board digitally at https://www.moodshare.co/

From my Collections: Hannah McAndrew Mug and Doug Fitch Jug and Mug

I really should have kept a better record of what I have been looking at the last few months collecting all the images of different makers that I like that use slip decoration one way or another, I started going back through blogs but it was just taking too long, so I made a quick selection of what I liked from what was obvious and the names jumping out at me in my head.  I really want to play around with layers and textures, and the playfulness of slip that you see not long after the slip is applied.

(This blog has been sat very much unchanged for two weeks because I have been busy with other things and there are other things that need doing and I don't want the entry to get too long, so I will post it today and hopefully by next weekend I will have finished the other half.)

Some of the pots I own

Been busy with other things and I meant to put in part two on Sunday but it still isn't finished, so instead I am posting some of the pots that I own. Will update with all the names later, have a go at guessing some of them.

Inspiration Part 1 - Of Sea, Sand and Food.

Today I found myself looking through my old university work looking for inspiration for working in Slip ware which is something I have been looking to work at doing differently, and I still have so many questions as it isn't really a way I have worked much, but I am saving all that for Part 2.

Part One is about where my Stoneware Pottery Comes from, this isn't all my workings just a  small part from my University days and includes drawings, mindmaps and Mood Boards. Yes it is going to be full of words and pictures.

 Step One - Mind Map

Mind Map on Food

I always start by just getting rid of the words from my head and organizing them on paper so I can stop worrying about them, words can be a burden but also help you focus before the project starts. I had several mind-maps all exploring different aspects of what I was interested in. The Project I set myself was "English Stoneware for English Food" so I started looking at what we ate here in the UK, and how we ate it.

Step Two - Mood Boards

Sketchbook Mood Boards on Bread

From the Mind Map I took a section I am actually interested in such as bread and tried to find what it was I liked about bread, I had previously done a project which was "thrown and altered" and I called that work "Torn Apart" I ripped apart bowls to make dipping vessels for bread, I didn't want to take the project any further and the images were rescued from mood boards of that project. So as this was a dead end I decided to carry on.

Mood Boards looking at Rustic Food and One Pot Cooking

So I looked at rustic food and one pot cooking and decided I was going to made sturdy, heavy duty, honest pots (not that I had a choice on honestly my skill levels just weren't there).

Mood Boards looking at a Colour Palette

Looking at Colours rather than forms  in this mood board, I knew from the start I didn't want something that was stark white or 1970s brown as it were (though saying this I now have some 'brown' pots I love) but I still wanted something earthy that would be broken up with another colour which ended up being blue. 

Looking at puddings, seascapes and patterns.

Just a quick two mood boards on the sea as my life as a youngest revolved around the sea and puddings because a have a sort spot for them and wanted to create something that would look good on them.  The Patterns were my initial development work on trying to find something I could incise into pottery or decorate with slips or oxides.

Step Three - Develop Forms

Development Sketches for Jugs and Teapots

Despite wanting to throw I seemed to have an insistence to design not what I could make but shapes I found interesting.

Development Sketches for Bowls and Vases/Vessels

Once again bowls designed with the purpose of not having a straight rim, I even tried making the bowl forms but it never went well.

Step Four - Surface Pattern

Developing a Brushwork Language - Quink and candle

I have sheets and sheets of these sheets and even had a roll of paper that I worked on that was metre after metre and had various ink colours on too, at one point I wanted to get it printed into a wrapping paper to wrap my work in, I wrapped my work in some of it and other parts ran when it got wet in the rain going to a show. I was developing brush strokes and the line quality I was aiming for.

Rough Layout for dinner service

This was a sheet showing an example of what a dinner service could be like with a plate, bowl, side plate and cup (I didn't put a handle on because I wasn't happy with the ones I kept trying to draw).

Step Five - Production and Redevelopment.

Platter based on the Brushwork, hake and bamboo brushes

There is something I always  liked about this platter, it was one the decoration worked well on, on a lot and the smaller forms it was just too cramped, these sorts of brush strokes need space, and don't work too well on the outside of cups. So I spoke to my tutor and I decided to simplify the pattern

Simplifying the Pattern

So the pattern became a broad swipe with a hake brush which works well on the small forms, but doesn't work well on the platters as I don't have an 8inch hake brush.  It is something I never resolved.

Step Six - Reality

Despite being a Pottery student for 4 years at the point of graduation, I still didn't have a big knowledge of pottery and potters and it was only after meeting Kevin and Jack that I realised I didn't know anything or anyone in the pottery world.  So it was on leaving university and actually gained a love and understanding of pottery and other potters. Hence the reason there is no real pottery mood board in the above pieces, with "I am inspired by..."

How the Pattern works on Oxidation Pieces. with two overlapping brush strokes.

When I left University I bought my own kiln, but due to costs, convenience and trying to run a business six days a week, I got a small plug in electric kiln. This kiln suited being able to fill a kiln quickly and very full when I have lessons, but still too small to work at any sort of production and by the time I finished at the shop I could make enough work in a day to fill it and could make pieces that wouldn't fit inside its 30cm by 30cm diameter.

• I also made the mistake of buying in glazes, which I don't do for my standard ware any more.

• I am thinking of reducing the number of items in the standard ware and try and share some kiln space and do some reduction firings on some stacking bowls. 

• Stop doing tea bowls unless someone orders a sizeable amount.

•  Redesigning the Bowls so they are slightly more pleasing and more like the one I made for my wife that I found buried in my kitchen

Coming soon:

Part 2 - Developing an Earthenware Range