Dasani's Art & Amusings

 Well, this is a bummer.  This photo was posted a few days ago on Facebook.   I knew going into the firing that the plate on the left had a crack, around the ridge but the other plate was completely ok going into the kiln.   After the initial sting of finding them cracked,  I was off to find a reason why this happened and how to keep it from happening again.   What appears to have happened to the first piece was either there was a bit of water left on the piece that settled into the spot where the lip rises and that moisture created a spot of unevenness in the drying process.   For the other piece, that crack appears to have come from uneven heating in the firing.  I had the plates stacked, which I've done many times stacking pieces: tiles, bowls, smaller pieces inside of others, but I think somehow there was an uneven heating causing this crack.   I completed this firing in the test kiln which is a small kiln that ha...

  Yesterday, I taught a new class on Idea Generation.  The class was based on a system of steps that one could take when looking at:  a piece of art, a piece of music, embroidery, recipes, games - basically just about anything in the arts and sciences, and turn it into a piece of work all of their very own.  There were six people that attended the class, including some SCA friends, as well as a young member of the SCA as well as someone who just joined the SCA three days ago and this was their first event. Honestly, this was an incredible turn out, being as though the class was not listed with my name or a description of what the class was about. In addition, it was listed as tentative due to uncertainties when it was time to register the class!  We had a great time, the class lasted a little less than 45 minutes - which was the target time that I was aiming for!  Overall a good experience - I'm glad I had such interest in the class.  I might take this...

 Thinking about historical potters, it struck me that there had to be some uniform way to create plates or bowls so that they were the same (or nearly the same) size and dimensions each time or if they were made by different potters in the workshop.  What is the easiest way to create something to be consistent and uniform? Use a mold of some sort!   Today, I made two plates that were the same size and shape through the use of a drape or hump mold.  This is a mold where a slab (flat sheet of clay) is draped over the top and shaped to the mold.  Piccolpasso would have used either a plaster or wooden mold in his workshop. These would have been most likely purchased from another shop, especially the wooden molds.   I could have chosen to use a plaster mold, however, I know that plaster can chip and become less durable over time.  If plaster gets into the clay it can also make the clay explode.  I chose to use a wooden mold in order to make t...