Follow up - hydro abrasion fun

I previously posted two greenware cups which I'd decorated with hydroabrasion designs. I have now full glazed both of these and am moderately pleased with the results.

The first cup was dipped in midnight blue. This glaze is tricky because it's very thick and dries slowly. As it is translucent, it is very difficult to avoid finger prints unless you are using tongs to dip the cup. This only had a single coat of the blue as I was concerned that it'd be too runny and end up flowing down the foot. It has pooled there somewhat but has behaved remarkably well. I am curious if I dipped the rim to bring more colour to that edge, would I see a line?

This second cup was dipped in midight blue. This was then followed up with a aubergine rim. This really displays how runny the blue is as the line of the rim dip isn't smooth with a beautiful organic movement. I quite like this combination even if this isn't a medieval design. I also quite like the effect of the small divots in the flower design. This has created small dark pockets while the main form is outline in the white. This is a really effective three toned colour grouping. I will be trying this again.

Pleasingly accidental

Every now and again, a mistake is made that must be preserved. During my first ever throwing class, I accidentally destabilized the wall of a shallow bowl. I kept the pot because the ripple was quite pleasing and I wanted to see if a green-purple combination of glaze could emphasize it. Occasionally, a flaw can be a feature.

This cup was throw right before the COVID19 social isolation kicked in for my state. Its walls were quite thin and the clay had been thrown multiple times as I'd had a couple of failures that evening. As a result, the clay was very wet so wasn't holding up well. As I pulled, I thinned the base a little too much and it couldn't hold the weight of the rim and collasped on itself. It was an almost even collapse with four main divots so I thought I might preserve it. The rim was almost even as well so it is a reasonably viable drinking cup.

I glazed the inside with satin white and the outside with aubergine over midnight blue. It has created a lovely purple blue blend which I'm going to try to emulate more. I think if I do this combination again on a thin cup, I might double dip the purple on the rim to hopefully prevent too much colour creep away from this thin edge.

Riffing on blue

Four versions of a theme

I recently started working with blue glazes again. I find them so much more visually pleasing and I feel they a much more striking. In an earlier post, I displayed my first Back to Blue cup. Once this was complete and before it was gloss glazed I was so pleased by the balance of the colours I thought I'd continue with that project. I have now produced an additional four cups. I feel they have varying stages of 'medievalness'. By this, I mean they tend to drift from the original source material through the use of colour and the placement of the design elements. I think the smallest cup is now my favourite but this exercise has been a really good exploration of how far I feel it is acceptable to wander with the use of design elements and still present something I'd be happy to call medieval.

First up is a tiny cup with a slight taper. This is half a step away from the original source material. The leaf forms and distribution remain true to the original designs. The main changes are the lack of secondary design elements. If this were more period, the background would be full of smaller interwoven buddy vine and swirl shapes and the spiral fill would be minimal. This is my favourite of the three because it still feels like it could be Kashani.

Three quarters of a step away. I then created a larger cup with better vine branching. There are less leaves in this design as well. I was thinking of continuing the spirals into the lower half and making a semi-matching set between the large and small cups but I wasn't sure. I consulted my brains trust (Brooke in this case) if I should do spirals or the more modern solid blue. As I was torn, I went with her suggestion. This is still half a step away because some of the extant objects have blue backgrounds. Again, for this cup, I have eliminated the secondary design elements. I have also chosen to segregate the dark blue half of the cup which I feel is a more modern aesthetic.

The final cup started out as a very period design - vines inside a lobe shape. I repeated this design three times around the cup because four resulted in skinny slivers and two had too much space between them. If I could have made four work, I might have flipped them in opposite orientations as I've seen on some period items.

I was a bit stuck on the best way to link them together. I decided to continue the solid blue theme and fill the background. I soon realised that this would be a little overwhelming so I added a small leaf cluster in the blue. I also felt that the design was a little too stark but I didn't want to use blue shading as I had on the other cups because I was afraid it's detract from the size of the leaves. Instead, I added three dark blue lobes within the design to link the white section to the blue. I think it' worked reasonably well but the stark divide between the lobe and the rest of the cup is again, another step towards modern. I also thought I'd try to tie the secondary vines into the design again by switching out the spirals for an unplanned viney tangle. As a background pattern its chaotic nature is quite pleasing and really helps the eye skip over those sections. I tied this together with the blue area by filling in the leaf cluster with a similar pattern. This is the most modern of the set of four and the largest

Here is the view of the leaf shape. Note the white froth at the base of the cup? The blue underglaze fills the pores of the clay body. As a result, it won't hold as much clear gloss glaze. The glaze tends to run off or not bond as well as I wish it would. As a result, these solid underglaze areas turn out more matt than glossy. It does create a rather pleasing texture and a nice contrast between the white and the blue areas but I think I'd rather a full gloss. This is a problem for my fully coloured arbarellos as well so I need to find a way to resolving this. I'm not sure if this means dipping the body, waiting days for it to dry fully and then dipping it in clear again. I am worried too much clear gloss will smear my lines. This is an experiment I'll have to undertake with a small cup so it doesn't take me forever and a day to decorate it.

The final globe

This is the final globe cup from my green series. I decided I needed to further expand my use of the medieval motifs and thought maybe for the final cup I'd step away from the green over black. Instead, I used the period motifs and modified to them to align with a more heraldic colour set.

After glazing in the rim decoration and the three cats in ebony, I decided I wanted to move as far from the green as possible. I thought this would be a really good project to trial my new Firetruck Red glaze performance. I retained the motifs of the extant cup with the striped half base and the vines but used olour to emphaise the design. The red glaze is a beautiful colour and I am really happy with how this design turned out.

The dimensions of the cup are more bulb shaped rather than the tapered look of the extant jug howver when handled, the elements tie nicely in together so I am satisfied with the look.

Jug with running animals. Kashan. 12-13th century. Cleveland Museum of Art. 1947.495

Back to blue

I've spent a lot of time working with green overglaze these last few months. This was partly driven by the need to round out my skills with regards to my 12th night Arts and Sciences entry. While the green has been fun and I've enjoyed the new design elements, I must admit I find blue much more appealing. This piece was thrown during Covid19 lockdown times in my little basement workshop. I used PB103 white clay so I could avoid adding the complication of white underglaze. This piece has been fired to stoneware.

This piece was inspired by my previous arbarello collaboration piece. I rather liked the background fill and the use of white elements to balance the darker blue. I used 'Colbalt blue' underglaze for this one which is a much deeper, and delightfully dark blue. I do prefer the lighter Electric Blue I think but this is still pleasing.

13th century, Kashan, Cristies Auction 6628, lot 73.

Instead of copying a pattern direct, I thought I'd combine multiple design elements and continue my 'balance' project. I was largly inspired by the above asymmetric vine design. The image isn't amazing quality and remains quite fuzzy even when zoomed in which is unfortunate. I took inspiration from the vines as well as the white / black / blue balance. I've tried a number of versions of this which I'll post in future blog updates.

The design is symmetrical with a 1/2 division of the cup. after layering the underglaze, I dipped it in clear glaze. Once dry, I then carefully rubbed glaze with my finger tips to ensure no air bubbles had formed. This seems to have worked really well as this cup has excellent gloss coverage. I am really happy with how this cup turned out!

Slip dots

Squeeze bottle of stained slip became snow-flakey decoration. I’m loving the dots. They flattened during the final glaze and the clear around them is a little thicker but I think it has worked well.

Making an impression

While rummaging around in my tool drawer trying to ring the right screwdriver I happened upon a leather stamp I’d bought years ago and never used. I wondered if it’d work well on clay and since I had a slightly less than leather hard cup just sitting there I tried it out. This cup will have sea green base with translucent green rim which will hopefully run and fill the leaves nicely. If this works it’ll open up a whole range of stamping options for me since these would also look good impressed into little clay buttons attached to a cup.