Geoff Graham on wed 14 jun 06
Thank you to all of you who have been so kindly offering your help: Ron,
Scott, Mshelomi, Janine, and Malcolm. I am not terribly sure how to use the
listserve, so I did not respond directly to your messages, since they seem
to direct back only to you personally, and not to the list. Is that how it
works? That is why I decided to respond in a new post to the list, so as to
be able to address all of you at once. Let me know if I could do this
another way. I am not really much of an e-mail afficionado!
I have already started experimenting with some of your ideas.
Black Copper Oxide: I happened to have some black copper oxide on hand,
because I use it to color Egyptian paste. I have made some in liquid form
and am helping it to stay suspended, and hopefully not as apt to smear away
by adding sugar and Elmers glue to it. I have also added some copper oxide
to the best black terra sigillata that I have thus far created, to see if
that may help its color.
Red Art: I also happened to have a few bags of powdered clay hanging about.
Because I am interested in creating a warm orangy color, rather than a pure
red, I mixed several of them together this time. I used all the Red Art I
had left, and also a bit of C-Red, and I also put in some ball clay, some
glacia, and a certain amount of rutile and titanium yellow stain so as to
get the color a bit warmer. The mixture is looking fairly nice on the
greenware I have used for experimentation so far.
Compositions: With the neat dark black of the copper oxide mixtures, the
look is quite hopeful indeed. It will be a few weeks before I can attempt
any firing however, as I use a kiln at Mendocino College, and we are in a
brief semester break.
To answer some of your questions:
Firing temperature: I usually just send my terra sigillata pieces through
the bisque firing, and they seem to come out fairly nicely that way. It is
possible, if I am willing to wait longer for firing, sometimes months at a
time, for me to have some pieces fired at come 05, and that is a bit better
for terra sigillata. I often do glazed pieces as well, and, because they
only allow cone ten clay in the college studio, most of my experiments are
fired as stone ware. I have really good results with using oxides and
Duncan Concepts glazes on top of Furgussen Yellow.
Clay Body: My clay body is generally either sculpture mix or, more recently,
WSO. In the past I used to do a lot of work on Cinnamon clay with black
engobe, using a combinationg of painting and sgraffito. Some of these
pieces came out rather nicely, but the granulation of stoneware makes them
not look as fine as I would like, and, of course, Cinnamon has a rather dark
coloring.
Carbon from Wood Firing: Thanks for the information. I had heard that that
might be the case. Although I think that any artist would find it nearly
impossible to decorate a piece without actually seeing the color differences
while working. I would tend to think that they must have been using
something that let them see what they were doing.
Glaze Compositon: I know, for instance, that during the period when Attic
Black Figure ware was invented, the Greeks were in a huge amount of contact
with 26th Dynasty Egypt at Naukratis. Therefore, it would not be surprising
to me if they did not pick up some information about glazing. For centuries
Egyptians had already been using glaze frit and some glazing techniques.
Could it not then be possible that they may have borrowed something of this
sort in their invention of the glossy black they produce on Attic ware?
This makes me want to do a bit of experimenting with mixing Egyptian paste
with my black, and applying that. The question is whether it was done as a
second firing. I think, if they did use such a thing, it must have been,
because, when I have attempted to add Egyptian paste to any greenware, the
place of contact between the paste and the clay is always very dull, lacking
in luster.
How Close An Imitation: I don't care if I actually reduplicate the process
and materials as they were done in ancient times. My object is not to make
archaeological frauds, but just to imitate the wares so as to make pleasing,
marketable reproductions. Some of what I have made thus far has been
pleasing in composition and design, but the color and finish have left much
to be desired, and probably would not have great retail value. I just want
to learn to make something functional which has the beauty and appeal of
ancient art.
Pottery Forms: I do not actually know how to throw pots well enough to make
the forms I would like to immitate. This is why I have been talking to a
collaborator who adores throwing tall vase forms. We are considering going
into business together if we can work out some of the chinks and pitfalls.
She is working on form, and I am working on surface decoration. Up till
now, most of my pieces have either been hand-built sculptures, drapped
bowls, and pinch pots. I have also decorated some molded pieces, but they
are not nearly so appealing as thrown ones in my opinion. Thus far my
throwing has amounted to a few little bowls, and taller forms which fall
down before I can get them where I want them. ;-)
Please forgive me for not addressing each person and question individually.
Maybe someone can help me figure out the list's protocol better so that I
can do that? My fear is that my responses might go only to the one person,
and not the list, or that perhaps the responses were personally directed,
and I did not realize it. Sorry to be so muddled about it.
Sincerely, Geoff
_________________________________________________________________
On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to
get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement
| |
|
