In the Studio

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MATERIALS

The clay I use in my work are mid-fire stoneware which fire to cone 6. As an artist, I am drawn to earthier clay bodies which add warmth and depth to the exposed sections of bare clay on my pieces.

I use a variety of glazes to create interesting glaze effect to compliment my pieces. All glazes used are non-toxic and food safe.

FORMING THE PIECE

A variety of method are used to form the components of my work from clay. Most of my pieces are either wheel thrown or slab built to start and then altered by adding or changing elements through different methods including hand sculpting, wheel throwing, carving, stamping, slab building, extruding, or molding clay.

TRIMMING

When pots initially come off the wheel after throwing, they are too soft to work further. Pieces are set aside to until they have dried enough to firm up to what is called "leather hard". At this stage, pots are ready to be trimmed. This process includes shaping the bottom of the piece to create a foot and fine-tuning the final shape of the piece.

TEXTURE AND ALTERATIONS

Textural detail is added by carving, stamping, and adding addtional detail such as handles, feet, spouts, lids, etc.

PREPARING FOR FIRST KILN FIRING

After pieces are dry, they undergo a quality check prior to being loaded in the kiln. This includes checking for rough spots, cracking, and other structural flaws. Non-structural concerns such as rough spots can typically be corrected at this stage. If structural problems are identified, pieces are placed in the reclaim bin so the clay can be reused for other pieces. Once pieces are bisque fired, they can no longer be reclaimed due to the changes undergone during the firing, so this is a critical step to preserve time, effort, and resources.

LOADING KILN AND BISQUE FIRING

For the bisque firing, pieces can touch and be stacked in the kiln to help maximize space and resources, which is very different from how the kiln needs to be loaded for a glaze firing. I use a method referred to as "tumble stacking" which reduces the number of shelves needed to allow more space for pots in the kiln. While pieces are extremely fragile at the "bone dry" stage, they are quite sturdy when carefully stacked rim to rim or foot to foot. Typically for me, a bisque kiln loaded by tumble stacking can hold around 3 times the number of pieces than a glaze firing in the same kiln.

PREPARING FOR FINISHES AND GLAZES

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IRON OXIDE WASH

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GLAZE APPLICATION

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PREPARING FOR FINAL KILN FIRING

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LOADING KILN AND GLAZE FIRING

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QUALITY CHECK

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FINISHING TOUCHES

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PHOTO SHOOT

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INVENTORY AND PRICING

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