Clay Soiree...

What a fab day! The second to last week of our show and what a great day!

Kevin and I gave exhibition talks today, a tour of our show and demonstrations plus hands on. We are extremely thankful to that total turnout for the day...people just kept on coming in, even to the end having passers-by dropping in to look at the show.

We are also thankful for our show facilitator and all the organising that made today run smoothly.
Kev talked about the pit, our processes and our firings. I talked about the intensity of exhibition work process and the importance of taking a break to artistic development...

And just in, the successes of last weekend's firing, if you are following along with our story you will know that last wkd was the firing of a brand new pit on a new friend's property. The respect that we have for this new location is hard to explain but we are both a tad overwhelmed by the hospitality and hope that we can develop this new friendship into something meaningful for all our local artists.

cheers all :D

Here's some pics from today...

exhibiting soon...

Exhibiting soon...

Very soon... launch day Sunday 5 May

and yes I'm firing today and still a few more to go. There's the attaching the hanging mechanisms for the wall plate tiles happening v soon! And a couple more firings to go.

For more process images follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Angela Walford Ceramics

The Studio...

So far the moving, moving and more moving of my studio art and equipment has been a smooth but long process. We're currently looking into damp damage from the flood a couple of years ago, I am hopeful but not certain that there will be a good bill of health for what lies beneath the surface or the exterior garage wall. After some insulating the space is going to be super functional as a studio/display space. And you never know there could be a spring sale to kick start the new venture!

So a few pics along the way...

The beginning of the new studio

Barely moving in here!

Pot smashing!!

 

The old Fridge is out, complete with big fruit Rat

Just some of the timber for the pit

And then there's this years social event... 'Big Clay Day 18' which in fact was 'The Big Pit Fire' this years mini event keeping the fires burning literally on this major event with a very successful day. The fire looked fabulous and kept us all warm after a very chilly 0 deg C start to the day!! We kept this one small being on a friends property but hopefully next time we can do something larger again. Lots of 'irons in the fire' at the mo with some new locations scouted and thoughts of something akin to the early years of The Big Clay Day are afoot!

 Nearing end of the day after the troops had gone home, Kev and I waited for the coals to cook down then we narrowed the fire into the central pit and covered with tin for the slow burn throughout this week. Come this weekend we're back again to open up the ashes and reveal some toasty pots we hope...

End of the day with clear skies and a toasty pit

new beginnings...

Another dash around the sun and here we are starting a new year again! We dashed up the the other sunny state before Christmas for a family catchup, fab beach time early in the mornings along a famous stretch of white sand. All the renovations were complete at the surf club and foreshore and it looks and feels so much nicer....all of the rocks were back in place and beach walks were so accessible this time around. A slight blunder occurred in booking accomodation but all good and only a short walk away from the rest of the family's stay....note to self 'check the name of the stay before clicking buy!' hahah... all good, it was very well priced and only for brekky and sleeping anyway :D

me

Broadbeach QLD

So into a new year and classes have started in the studio. It's so good to see peeps learning and having a play after all its only mud :D but achieving a pot in one hour is pretty impressive! In between I'm juggling keeping up with my throwing time and working towards another gas kiln load full of mugs and ash test, can't wait to see my new glaze on some functional forms.

Sala is always on my mind at the top of a new year, 'The Tale of Little Fat Bird' is bound to continue!

Making larger forms has not been without it's challenges, I lost probably 4 pieces last year due to some separation anxiety with the largest pieces in particular. But onward and some slight modifications to timing and slip and all will be good! 

On another note I'm heading to Clay Gulgong, in NSW and working on some show pieces, hope this all comes together, it's quite the challenge bringing a lot of logistics together but plan I will and also considering Tassie for next year!

Anyhoo here's some pics (check the captions), hope you're all well and making plans for the year ahead! Happy Days! cheers all...

weekend classes in studio, ang walford ceramics 

Greg Daly, Gulgong claypush

Gulgong claypush

Gulgong claypush

The Tale of Litttle Fat Bird

New ash glazes

weekend classes in studio, ang walford ceramics

weekend classes in studio, ang walford ceramics

some of us :D

weekend classes in studio, ang walford ceramics

#raku, ang walford ceramics

shino mug

Jeff Mincham, Gulgong claypush

tea for one, herbal tea set

Raku Tuesday...

Tuesdays are warming up! Thankful for some warmer weather, spring has been kind so far. We've re design our firing nights and kiln setup, so much so that the results are really starting to show. Some lovely surfaces, subtle and strong. The lustres are really working nicely with the pots from last week showing strong reduction and some covered with shiny copper surface.

So some more details, the kiln 'little rocket' has been quite the trooper, the air holes required for wood firing have been filled with old bits of kiln shelf. Inside the firebox we use a small piece of kiln shelf to deflect the flame. The burner itself has a fab new stand made out of bits of metal from the garage stash ;) we raised it to the height of the fire box and angle slightly so it hits the small pice of shelf in the back of the firebox. The flue is a bit large for gas firing so we damp that with a kiln brick on top and adjust for temperature climb. The reduction tins are getting a bit filthy so wet newspaper goes inside the lid which stops unknowns dropping down on the work and helps to seal the lid too. We also are using wet towels to cover the tins and stop any escaping smoke.

And that is the journey so far my friends, more adjustments are sure to come and we are about to make a bigger kiln so that will change everything again. :D :D :D

Ash Glazing...

It's been a while since I did some new Ash Glaze tests and with a break in regular making, SALA seemed like as good a time as any. So with a gas firing pending for Mugs Day in Stirling, I set to mixing up some simple variations with materials at hand... the smoothest piece is the most complex glaze derived from a Phil Rogers recipe I had scribbled down in one of my journals... So there are 4 samples here which I then applied to some larger vase like forms... The clay is a mixture of stoneware bodies with a fine grog addition and a ball clay slip brushed on at leather hard stage, during which some surface texture was added by drawing into the clay with a pencil. 

The glazes are simple combos of feldspar and clay and ash straight out of the fireplace, no washing or sieving of the ash and no colourants added, the green colour is straight from the natural ash. The wood burnt would have been local fruit tree, plum, apple and some redwood plus some pine.

So there you have it...now to mix them again and test again!

Thanks for dropping by and reading notes from my glaze journal July 2017...

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