Welcome to another long abandoned webspace of mine. I basically keep this space so people can see process pics of how I make my pottery. Soon I will be adding pics of my mixed media process...I bet you can't wait! For more up to date info visit my hijackedceramics facebook page or my etsy shop @ hijackedceramics.com

Bazaar Christmas

One thing that I learned from this holiday season is that I am a ham. I had two sales events this year and it made my December crazy, but fun. I hate the stress and wear and tear of retail shows, but put me behind the booth and I am a happy man. I really love talking to customers and other vendors, and it is great to see someone light up when they really love my work. This pic is of me in one of the last times I sat during the Bazaar Bizarre in Boston this year. Although most of the time my booth seemed like a no fly zone for customers who were much more interested in jars with moss in them or spraypainted garbage, I really had a good time and you have to love a one day table top show. Most of the other vendors were out of this world in a good way and I felt a little outclassed.
The other show I did was the Foundry Show in Pawtucket, RI, not far from where I live in Providence. It is the opposite of the Bazaar Bizarre in most ways. It is over 8 days and I have to set up a booth. The artists there are on the more established, traditional side and are a great group of people including some really influential mentors of mine like the Roseberry Winn Pottery and Rag and Bone Bindery.

Crappy Day

Over the weekend I spent an afternoon at New Bedford Architectural salvage, and man is that place great. They basically warehouse all of the stuff that gets ripped out of homes during remodeling or demolition. Hundreds of antique, windows, doors, built in cabinets, fire mantels, columns and just random stuff. It has two levels and the second floor is where the real treat is found; it is where every antique toilet and bathtub goes when it dies.


These are super old timey. There was no such thing as an indoor bathroom, because the indoors had not yet been invented.





This is actually a toilet from the distant future that was sent back in time to the distant past. It looks like it runs on jet fuel or was converted into a leaf blower or something. Standing there with all of those historic porcelain crappers made me proud to be a ceramist.

GettingTesty

I have been testing lots of new glazes and having lots of mediocre results....I love a glaze and it cracks off the pot....the color is good the texture sucks....on and on. I like some of these colors.

First Round of Pots

I just unloaded a bisque firing of a few new pots. I will be glazing tomorrow then back in the kiln for the glaze firing. I am working on some new ewers/creamers, trying to figure out a size and shape I like. The bottles are a first as well and I think they are a good solution for a bud vase, or even a candle holder. These kind of look like fishing floats you might see tied to someones nautically themed shed.

Back to work

The studio is more or less set up (I have transfered my mess) and I am back to work.

The Process

My process is very simple, about as primitive as you can get, but I always have a problem explaining it very well. I'm going to try to do it here with the help of some visual aids.

First I throw the pots in terracotta or a new white clay body, both of which are boxed (commercial) clays. For any potters out there who like to geek out about equiptment, I use a shimpo whisper, which I have to say is the best electric wheel there is. Instead of the traditional belt driven wheel , it works by unholy magic or something because it is totally silent and very powerful.

Next I let the blank pots dry until they are leather hard.

Now I roll the pots across my woodblock patterns, working the design into the surface by pressing from the inside of the pot. This is the trickiest part and it's the step where I lose the most pots.

After the patterning I trim the bases. When the bases are trimmed I let the pots dry, then apply layers of slip clay, usually starting with white and ending with black. Sorry I don't have any pics of this but there really is not much to see.

Now the magic happens. After the slip layers are dry I carefully sand back through them with a scouring pad. It is kind of an archaeological process, as I sand the different colors emerge and then the pattern strarts coming through. In the picture I am just using a black slip over a white clay body, which gives a dramatic / photogenic result. I built a special vacuum table to deal with the immense amount of dust I create and I also wear a respirator.



After the pots are sanded I bisque fire them, then glaze them and fire them again to 1945 degrees.