Day 4--Glazing!

On day 4, we opened the kiln and further checked the status of our greenware pieces (greenware is when the piece is "gray clay"). Although some of my pieces were awkward looking, all of my pieces survived the firing process. One student's fish broke in the kiln; for large, closed-air pieces you need to make a small air hole somewhere. Otherwise, the air can basically get trapped in the piece and the piece can explode.  Whereas they started out as gray-colored pieces, once our greenware was fired, the pieces had a pale pinkish hue to them.

We spent a large part of the day glazing the pieces. We were also able to see the tiles from the previous day. I had assumed that underglaze was still "shiny" like conventional glazes, but I was
incorrect. Underglaze is basically a matte-like finish.

The glazes that we used were all from a company called Mayco. Deborah had small ceramic shards that featured the glaze colors; that way, we could get an accurate idea of the actual color once the piece was glazed.  The specific Mayco glaze we used was "Stroke N Coat." This glaze is excellent for classroom situations since it is easy to apply, has reliable color, and can be fired in many different situations. I have to admit that the Language Arts teacher in me simply LOVED the names for the glazes: Moody Blue, Teal Next Time, Silver Lining, Green Thumb, Old Lace... these names all made me smile:)

Deborah described the firing process to us, informing us of the various cones and temperatures that needed to be used. We fired with one 04 and our pieces eventually reached a temperature over 1900 degrees Fahrenheit. Honestly, the firing process specifics completely baffle me. I never realized how much science was involved with clay and ceramics.

Using glaze is tricky because even though the glaze container shows the hue, the color is always darker after it is glazed. Using multiple color glazes is also challenging; you have to keep a steady hand. Another key to using the glazes is to make sure that you use 2-3 even coats of the glaze. Although we were essentially "painting" our pieces, doing all of them at once took quite a bit of time. I'll admit that I found myself getting lazy and "cutting corners" with some of the multiple coats of glaze.This laziness happened when I glazed the small sushi plates. The pieces looked like they were sufficiently covered with glaze; it was only until day 5 that I saw the impact of my laziness. (cue suspenseful music: dun, dun, dun)...

This is my coveted mug. I glazed it in "grape" (there's 2 layers of glaze, but it is hard to see. I decided to make the stars a bright blue-- painting those stars was a pain!)

These are our pieces in the kiln. The glazing process is deceiving. All of the pieces look muted and neutral. Patience will make them vivid and unique. 

Making it look easy

I have a video of Deborah's demo, but Blogger is giving me issues. In addition to pottery challenges, I guess I also have tech challenges.  Instead, I am going to post two demo-day photos taken by Jenifer Simon.

I wish I had a photo of myself during the potter's wheel "adventure." It would not be the best demo, but it would definitely be humorous. When I finished at the potter's wheel, I had small splatters of clay all over--even in my hair!

Based on clothing, I think this is actually Jen D., another aTi participant. She did a stellar job on the wheel. 

These were three different pieces that Deborah made during her demonstrations. 

Day three, potter's wheel

In the morning, Deborah had given us a demo on using the potter's wheel. She went through the demo slowly and completed it five times. All of us teachers use memory devices with our students on a regular basis; we all know that the sillier phrases tend to be recalled the most. While completing the demo, Deborah gave us some memory devices.  I can honestly say that once I started on the wheel, the information that I most vividly recalled was information related to the memory devices.

These are the three most "vivid" memory devices:

1) When starting out with the clay, center it on the potter's wheel plate and make it look like Patrick's house (from Spongebob).

2) When pressing down on the clay, make a "bear fist."

3) In order to smooth out and increase the height of your vase, mug, or container, use a motion with your hands that is comparable to spreading peanut butter on crackers (except vertically instead of horizontally).

When Deborah did the demo, I watched as closely as possible, trying to embed all of the steps into my memory. I tried taking notes, but it was challenging to focus my attention on the potter's wheel and on the notetaking at the same time.  As an additional review measure, I even recorded Deborah's demo and re-watched it before going on the wheel by myself.

I assumed that the wheel would be fairly easy. I tend to be a patient person and figured that once I got my vase started, it would be easy to make it taller and keep it symmetrical.

My experience was the utter opposite of easy. I was able to begin with the Patrick's house mound (easy enough) and was able to turn that mound into a cylindrical container (vase, mug, whatever--I just wanted to make something that did not turn into mush). I was able to create the hole at the top of the container and then flatten out the bottom. The true challenge existed when I tried increasing the height of the container. While the plate spun, the clay would somehow (I tried the wheel many times) get off-centered. The off-center piece would then basically collide with itself and completely sink in. It reminded me of a little child spending a significant amount of time building a sand castle, only to have it quickly washed away by a single way.

I was getting frustrated. The only saving grace was that the other students who tried the wheel with me were having the same issue. I could at least get the clay to resemble some type of vase or container. Others were having trouble with getting the clay mound to have a hole and a flat bottom.

After awhile, instead of being frustrated, I became determined. I wanted to be able to leave class and have some kind of "successful" piece that I made on the wheel. I stayed on the wheel for over an hour and a half. Being on the potter's wheel is a task which requires physical exertion. You have to brace your body over the clay, hovering over the wheel. There's also many motions that you make with your hands. At the end of the day, my hands actually ached.

This was the piece that I created at the end of the day... it is about 2 1/2 inches tall and is definitely asymmetrical.  However, the piece did not crumble or fall apart and, to me, that is a small success for the day.

This is actually a photo of the piece with underglaze on it (after firing).