Rebekah Thomas

Lana Wilson builds using slabs of porcelain decorated with colored slips and texture.

I recently attended a Lana Wilson workshop, sponsored by Louisville Clay and hosted at the University of Louisville ceramic studio. She has been using colored slips in her work quite a bit recently.

As I’d been thinking a lot about using colored slips already, I dove right in and began mixing some up! I’m quite interested in experimenting with colors and textures to further develop my own aesthetic. I think color plays such an important role in the feeling of ceramic work. And this role is often a last consideration – trailing behind form, function and process.

So how do I want my work to feel? What colors will meet my aesthetic requirements? How do I want to create my work? Ceramic techniques are so much like treats at a candy store. I’d like to try them all! And each lends it’s own mark on the look of a piece. As an experimenter, I like to try things and see the results and choose what I like. And of course there are times when I know what I want the end result to be, and it’s a matter of figuring out what will get me there. This is one of those times.

As an exercise to help me to recognize what it is I’m after, I’ve recently browsed some Etsy Treasuries and selected items that appeal to me. Here are some of my favorites, chosen for overall feel, primarily related to color and texture.

Some words that I feel relate to every one of these are: serene, romantic, pretty. Many of the images evoke ideas of folklore, legend, myth. I have long had a fascination with stories, objects, places and occupations which have historically been given extra significance – often as an association to magic or mysticism, or as metaphor for an enduring idea or sentiment. The colors, softness and textures reinforce this.

WomanwiththeRedHair by Jenny Harmon Scott

I love the soft medium-tone neutrals for their pacifying effect. I love bronze and black deep-textural elements, for their mystery, and the way my hand wants to touch them. Their weight and depth lend a sense of permanence, strength and age. Glassy transparent color accents on a soft neutral or a dark texture lend a transcendental, otherworldly experience. I’ve always loved amber for it’s natural timelessness and geological reference. And copper has always elicited a fascination related to Celtic romance -  which includes my love of chestnut red hair.

I am experimenting with these combinations of colors in my own work, using my own reaction to the art shown here as a guide. Using matte surfaces for softness and glossy ones for accent, glossy colored accents on matte neutrals and dark textures. Softness and texture together. What do you love? What does it make you think of?

Test tiles ready for glaze

Getting started again at a different temperature requires using all new clays and glazes. I’m testing some commercial glazes to give me a basic palette to work with while I formulate my own to fit my needs exactly.

So I roll out slabs of clay, cut them up into tiles and bevel the edges and cut a hole for hanging on a board later (as a display for reference) and stamp a pattern to test how the glaze is affected by texture. I make two sets: stoneware and porcelain. The color of the clay shows through glazes and will affect the color. And I want to test the fit on each clay body.

After applying the glaze to each tile, I applied the same red iron oxide and rutile again on a different area of the tile, because they will look a bit different whether above or below the glaze.

Test tiles after firing

I fired them like normal to cone 6 in my electric kiln. All of these are Coyote glazes. From the left, they are Black, Shino, Light Shino, Red Gold, Espresso Bean, Really Red, Gun Metal Green, Cedar Shino, Oatmeal and Oasis Blue. I’ve used the black with success on a pot. It’s a good solid glaze. Shino is nice, Light shino is a beautiful creamy glaze on porcelain. Red Gold looks wonderful in this test on stoneware, but not so nice on porcelain. Really Red looks awful as a whole tile, but I’m thinking it would be good as an accent glaze. Gun Metal Green is just beautiful on pots. I can’t recommend Cedar Shino at all. I would say the same about Oatmeal, except that where it borders Gun Metal Green some nice things happen: small blue “flames”. And Oasis Blue is really pretty. It’s quite even and seems very stable.

I’ve saved Espresso bean for last. You can see it’s crawled on the test tile. I’ll have to test this one again, applied more thinly. This particular glaze doesn’t want to stay on the pot if it’s applied at all thickly. It will crack and chip off very easily.

So here it is. I’ve already decided I like the Black, Shino, Gun Metal Green, and Light Shino. You can see these glazes on my pots already. Oasis Blue and Red Gold are maybes. I’m going to try them more on real pots. I’ve been saving them up until I’m confident I have good glazes to put them on.

Waiting for glaze

I’ve been working hard getting things in order, thanks for viewing my hard work!