How'd Ya Get There from Here??

How do you DO that?  It's a question artists and craftspeople are often asked.  There are as many ways of making things as there are folks making them.  Here's a peek into my basic process with stoneware, porcelain and terracotta clays.

Clay Tools

Most folks are familiar with poured ceramics - the process in which slip is poured into ceramic molds.  When the slip hardens, the mold is removed, the piece cleaned, bisque fired, glazed and re-fired.  This is done at a relatively low temperature compared to other ceramic work  Folks are also usually somewhat familiar with wheel-thrown work, in which the potter forms a lump of clay into an object while 'spinning" it on a potter's wheel.  Again, the work must be trimmed, dried, bisque-fired, glazed and final fired.  Temperatures here can go very high and there are many different ways to fire that give varied results.

I am primarily a hand-builder - that means I work with clay bodies without a wheel -  hand-forming from either lumps or rolled out slabs of  clay.  I create my own original designs and each piece has variations, even if I repeat a design.  Only if I make a mold from one of my originals can each piece turn out pretty much the same.

Hand-Built Sun Face Tile 6"x6" -Betsy J. Parker

Another Sun Face Tile - Same Design, Different Face Appears - Betsy. J. Parker

Clay bodies are formulations of different clays and raw materials, each created with specific qualities and designed to fire in a particular temperature range.

Open Bag of Stoneware Clay

 There are many ways to decorate pottery - the most frequently used one being glazing.  Glazes are not like paints - you can't mix yellow and blue and get green.  They are chemicals, formulated to melt over the object and essentially create a glass-like layer, sealing and decorating at the same time.  There's a lot going on technically, but let's get to the fun stuff  - the MAKING of a piece.

Glazes and Raw Materials

One starts, of course, with an idea.  I generally know what I plan to make, but often the clay seems to have a mind of its own.  I like to think of it as a dance I do with the clay.  Sometimes I lead and sometimes I follow - pushing, pulling, stretching, shaping - to help the piece come into form.  If it's a more complex form, multiple pieces of clay will be put together using slip to attach them, building it in a way similar to sewing a garment from many pieces.

Clay Cut and Waiting to be Formed

Shape and Texture Begin

Features Start to be Formed

Face Ready to Dry on the Shelves

Once the piece is shaped to my satisfaction, it's left to dry and later buffed or sanded.

Garden Bells Drying on the Workshop Shelves

 Most potters bisque fire pieces to a lower temperature to do away with impurities and make the pieces less fragile for glazing.  I generally single-fire, which means I glaze pieces that are dry and brittle and easy to break or to cause to collapse from moisture in the glazes.  It also means most of my work is brush-glazed, a time-consuming process.

Glazing in Progress

 I then fire them for the first and only firing to a higher temperature.  It's a risky process, but one that I enjoy.  Firing takes a number of hours depending on how full the kiln is and how hot I'm firing.  Most of my firings take between 6 and 8 hours and the temperature is between 2200 and 2300 degrees fahrenheit.  When the kiln cools, the magic appears.  Clay is not an exact thing.  Often there are glaze disappointments; sometimes pieces crack or break in the kiln.  But always, there's enough excitement to keep me coming back.

Sun Face In the Kiln Ready to be Fired

 And that's how ya get there from here!

Terracotta Sun - Betsy J. Parker