Just a few images of my early work!
Work produced from 1999-2012
I started working with porcelain as a student at art college. Having heard of its reputation as a ‘difficult’ material; I saw it as a challenge I couldn’t refuse! Of course by the time I had discovered its reputation was well founded it was too late, I had already fallen in love. Even today I continue to enjoy the challenge of porcelain, it is frequently exciting and occasionally difficult but it remains my love.
Throwing
This work was thrown using a wooden bat on an electric wheel using Audrey Blackman porcelain, I aimed for a wall thickness of approximately 2 mm. (1/16th of an inch).
Turning
Initial turning was carried out with the piece still attached to the wheel. When leather hard the work was Inverted onto a sponge mat placed on the wheel head and further refined using loop tools. I use a sponge mat in order to avoid damage to the rim. The work is held onto the mat by applying a small amount of downwards pressure with a finger of the left hand. I would shine an LED torch through the vessels wall to check they were sufficiently fine.
Sponging
The vessels wall thickness was altered by using shellac (sometimes known as French polish) as a resist or mask, applying this to the fully dry pot wherever I needed to retain the original thickness and using a damp sponge to remove a small amount of the untreated clay. This process can be repeated until either the correct surface is achieved or the pot falls apart in the hands, whichever comes soonest!
By masking certain areas and eroding the untreated surface with water I can alter the wall thickness and hence its level of translucency. The alteration is minimal, normally less than a millimetre, but sufficient to create areas of light and shadow with the resultant abstract patterns of subtlety and delicacy made from light itself.
I polish the exteriors for a more tactile surface and delicately colour the interior with glaze. When illuminated this tints the vessel with shades of the interior colour.