Another year over!

It's been a really exciting month - I had a table at Material Obsession's end-of-year swap sale and I've been selling lots of large pots through my shop.

Kathy, Cath, Wendy and I at MO's Swap day

(these two photos by John @ Material Obsession)

It's also been a big year! Sharyn Brown, Sarah Ormonde and I opened up the front of my studio as a shop - Made Local in Marrickville - 22 Llewellyn Street - near West Juliett Cafe and down the hill from Enmore Pool.

This semester I started making some quite different marks on my pots - inspired by potters like Robin Welch. I am really enjoying playing with these new shapes and textures.

 I've also started adding these patterns to some of my other work

I've also being playing with the white horizon line around my bigger bowls

I can't wait to get making again over the Christmas break!

Just finished university break and am now back into Semester 2. Here are some of the pots I glazed over the break.

This glaze contains some of the marble sludge from the water saw at the local marble factory

The copper and bone ash inside this bowl seem to work well against the black rim

I have been trying to loosen up my markings a bit - move away from the  concentric circles

 Another interesting test bottle using the marble sludge and some oxide additives

and... a fantastic sunrise over the lake yesterday morning.....something to think about

Just back from the Semester 1 assessments for my Masters of Fine Art  course at Australian National University. Here are two of the bowls I took to assessment. I was really pleased with the first one - I think it's the first time I have been able to convey a real sense of landscape through my work.

I also really liked the copper green in this bowl - I see a lot of green in the waters around here - particularly crossing the bridge up at Narooma. It's one of my favourite places.

They are single fired iron-bearing clays with a dry glaze containing oxides.

I also took some taller pots in groups.

The colours I am using at the moment come from the colours I see around me at Bermagui - the afternoon sun on the lake opposite my house is a particular source of inspiration.

January 2013

It's the beginning of a New Year - and the end of what felt like a long 2012..
I am new to potting - I started a few years ago and am now doing a Masters in Visual Art at Australian National University.

I'm focussed on using groggy clays (Keane's Toast and Bennett's Terracotta) and also digging some clays at my farm near Bermagui on the far South Coast of New South Wales.

Here are some of my latest pots - these all became Christmas presents for the big family Christmas we just had.

They are single-fired to Cone 8 with dry glazes painted on and rubbed in. 

I also made some larger pieces for last semester's assessment - again with the dry oxide stained glazes.

The terracotta burns off to a dark brown at Cone 8 and the Toast seems to hold it all together - no cracking so far.  I am using two main glazes, brushed or sponged in usually. One is 30:30:30 - so

Potash Feldspar 33

China clay 33

Whiting 33

with different combinations of copper, chromium, cobalt, rutile and bone ash.

The gold is a Gerstley Borate wash:

Gerstley borate 150

Rutile 20

Titanium dioxide 5

I am trying to get as much as I can from a single firing - the glazes blend in with the dry raw clay a bit and although that dulls them down a bit, I think they look like they are more part of the surface of the pots.