A Bit About the
Process
It was never my intent to specifically portray the landscape in my work but more to allude to the idea of it being a landscape. More of a feel or mood. I use multiple ceramic stains to colour the translucent clay and then create layers of mixed coloured clays and other clay bodies.
What I love about the translucent clay is it's ability to allow light to pass through it showing the gradient colours. This can give the effect of fog in a landscape and more depth to the fired surface.
Nerikomi
“Nerikomi” is a Japanese term for working with blended clays and/or coloured clays. Neri meaning "to mix" and komi meaning "to press into" perhaps suggesting it relates to handbuilding. The term Neriage relates to using coloured clays on the wheel.
​
Working with coloured clays requires a lot of testing. It's crucial to carefully balance the quantity of stain to avoid overwhelming the claybody or causing issues such as warping or cracking. Achieving the right clay consistency and colour combatibility can also take a lot of trial and error.
​
​
​
Creating the block of coloured clay
Various coloured clays are layered together to create a block. I document what colours are layered together to determine how successful a colour combination would be. It also means I can repeat the colour combination if it works well. This layered block is then wedged a number of times and pounded into a block. From the block I slice off a layer and use a rolling pin to create slabs that are used for my work. The process of rolling can blend the colours further. How each slice appears is unpredictable, however, areas can be rolled and stretched to enhance certain areas and then finally rolled to an even thickness.
Forming the slabs into a plate
This is an example of a plate that has multiple sliced layers of coloured clay as well as added white slices. After it is rolled to the proper thickness and a foot ring thrown and added to the bottom, it sits until the next day until it has hardened and easier to handle. A sponge is used to clean up the surface where bits and pieces of coloured clay has been dragged into the white areas (or vise versa) due to slicing with the wire cutter.
Glazed and Fired
Typically there are two firings each piece has to go through. The first bisque firing is a slow gradual increase in temperature taking approximately 12-13 hours and reaches 1828 F. The slow temperature increase allows the organics and chemical water to burn out and hardens the clay enough to handle. At this stage as well, the clay is porous and ready to be waxed and glazed. The glaze is a mixture of silica, alumina (clay), fluxes that melt to form a glass. The glaze firing is a slow increase in temperature and slow cool down taking approximately 12-13 hours and reaches a temperature of approximately 2214 F.
