UCLAY

This week the UCLAY exhibition opened in the PR1 Gallery.  I have to say everyone’s work looked fantastic and it was lovely to catch up with friends from previous years. Here’s a few photos, in particular showcasing my fellow second years.

Patricia Ramsden.

Patricia Ramsden.

Cath Criscenti.

Alice Bohannon.

Cath Criscenti.

Johanna Storm Rusu

And my things with a bit of added food styling!

And here’s the main gallery for good measure.  It was great being part of the exhibition and the preview evening was very well attended.  I think this is something that we’d like to do next year after we graduate.

With all the excitement of the exhibition making things has taken a bit of a back seat this week.  I did get some slip tests back from the bisque firing however. Here they are in the sink at uni.  I like to wet them as it gives a better idea of what they’ll look like after the glaze firing though they will still change, often considerably, as a result of that. The stains were tested at four different strengths, 1%, 3%, 5% and 10%, in each colour.  The increase in stain percentage is quite obvious.  The colours tested are as follows:

Top row from left to right: crimson, sun yellow, grey

Middle row from left to right: tan brown, emerald, azure blue

Bottom row: black

I’ll post a photo of them once they’ve been glazed fired too to show the difference.  It’s good to have a better idea of shades produced with different amount of stain.  The next step is to add some iron oxide now at different percentages to see what effect that has as the stains alone are a bit bland.

Loving the above platter that’s just back from the bisque firing.  Going to keep this one simple with a very thin oxide wash and then the new temple glaze to seal the surface.

At home we’re creating a new shower room from a biggish cupboard upstairs.  I’ve decided to try and make my own wash basin for this so have bought a big plastic bowl to use as a mould.

With the lighter evenings it’s been lovely getting down to the salt marsh/estuary more regularly with the dogs. The high tides have swept so much debris in there’s always something to find down there.