Ceramics

All three pieces, incomplete

Second piece, incomplete

First piece, incomplete

During my first week of ceramics I made three vessels. I used coils and made them all roughly square. The first is the largest and they decreased in size. I gave the smallest one a base unlike the other two.
I also threw a bowl on the potter's wheel. It was the first time I had used the wheel so the tutor did most of it really. All the pieces went into the kiln over the weekend.

Pieces after first firing

Raku pieces in reduction chamber

At the beginning of the second week all my objects were out of the kiln and ready to be glazed. I decided to raku glaze the three vessels I had made by coiling. The  raku process two glazes are used, resist slip and sacrificial crackle raku glaze. The resist slip is put on first and stops the sacrificial glaze from sticking. Where both the glazes are stays white. Just the resist slip leaves it grey and the parts without glaze goes darker. I dipped each of the pieces in both glazes. I dipped the largest one upside down and used a slip trailer (which is like a small turkey baster) near the bottom. I dipped the middle sized one from the bottom and the top leaving a band in the middle. The smallest was dipped straight.
 I painted the bowl using underglaze colours. It was fired for a second time, a clear glaze was put on it and it was fired for a third time.
Each of my raku pieces were fired in an outdoor gas kiln. They were then put in a 'reduction chamber', which was a metal bin with wood chippings, while still red hot. It is the smoke from the burning wood that darkens the clay. When they had cooled the glaze was chipped off, the smoother the surface the easier this is. The pieces were washed to remove all traces of the resist slip.