In The Studio
These pages will be used to show you what is happening around the studio at the time you are browsing my pages. |
Summer 2005
My husband and I love to scuba dive. This
summer we traveled to Indonesia for some "muck" diving.
We swam in shallow water
across wide stretches of sea grass and sand to find some of the strangest
and most beautiful critters in the marine world.
Meanwhile, back in the studio, the prototypes and support forms for
a set of dishes I am creating for Dinnerworks 2006 were waiting for
me.
Dinnerworks is a major fundraiser for the Louisville Visual Art Association
in Louisville, Kentucky.
This is the prototype set made from another clay body.
These dishes were created with Southern Ice Porcelain.
I mixed the custom colors and designed these flashy murrini patterns.
This image shows salad plates drying in their own
firing support forms. They are built in the form and
stay safely within it until they have been high fired.
On the shelf below you can see the dessert bowls.
After firing the colors are much more intense.
In order to protect the surface I added a sheen of glaze, but
I decided to glaze only one side of the dishes. I wanted people to
be able to feel the luscious, pure porcelain ... it is as soft
and smooth as satin.
Three pieces of the set make quite a dramatic statement.
Here are the dishes I have finished to date. I have also made a few extra pieces for myself.
You can also glimpse some vases created from the same murrinis.
These vases are drying and should be ready for sale in November of 2005.
The slowest part of this whole process is drying.
It takes weeks to dry these forms so they do not crack.
When you think about how many connected pieces
there are in each pattern, it is not surprising they need
so much attention..
Now, here is the exact opposite!
Since I have added paper pulp to this batch of Southern Ice Porcelain
it can be left out (even under a fan) and dried overnight.
This vase is 22 inches tall.
I will be doing some experiments with it ... slipped surface textures
mixed with murrini designs.
I have completed the Dinnerware and want to share some images of the finished product. As you can see the colors are very vibrant and each piece co-ordinates beautifully.
In the first image you will see the traditional table setting.
The second image shows all the pieces as they fit within one another.
