Simple Pottery in Blue & White
These dishes were made using the simplest of techniques and I think demonstrate how you can get eyecatching results without throwing everything at the item you’re making. Less is more, as they say! These two simple, graphic designs are inspired by ripples on the pond, and honesty seed pods I find in our garden hedgerow in late summer.
To make these dishes I rolled out the clay and then used hump moulds to create the shape of the dish. My hump moulds are home made - I just pour plaster into a slightly flexible plastic mixing bowl (the flexibility helps with getting the thing out afterward) and there is the mould, You can buy hump moulds from pottery suppliers but I always ask “can I make this myself?” before I buy pretty much anything these days - what can I say, I like making things.
The clay is Oxidising St Thomas, which is pale and fires to a lovely creamy white with just a little bit of texture. The clay’s texture this plays alongside the smooth glaze beautifully so when you stroke these pieces you get the rough and the smooth. I mean, I assume everyine strokes thier pottery gently all the time, but maybe that’s just me (I do it with fabrics, paper and balls of yarn too). Once the clay is dried a little it can be take off the mould - not too soon and not too late - and then bisc fired before the wax resist pattern is painted on.
I use wax emulsion to make the pattern. It’s exactly the same technique as when I made wax resist pictures in primary school, except instead of Crayola and powder paint and no baking this uses the emulsion, glaze and an oven that goes up to 1250 degrees centigrade! The wax is painted on, you can sort of see where you’re going which helps, and then left to dry - this doesn;t take long. Then for these I painted on dark blue transparent glaze with a wide hake brush - I love these oriental style brushes, they make brushing glaze on much easier.
The slight grainyness to the clay also means the wax resist sometimes leaves little gaps when it’s brushed on. You can see this clearly in the ‘Ripples’ design below. I didn’t go back and paint in tiny little dabs of blue, that’s just where the wax resist didn’t attach itself to the bisc fired clay surface, meaning the glaze was able to attach itself. The slightly rustic effect this gives is different to what you might see if the glaze had been applied over the whole surface and then wiped back to make the pattern.
With the glaze being brushed in there are often visible brush marks. I used to fret about this but then I realised that what I want form hand made pottery isn;t something which lokos like it’s been made in a factory, though I really do admire potters who can do that it’s really not my aesthetic.
I’m pleased with the way these come out and plan to use wax resist in more of my designs. The technique can’t be used on piece which might coe inot contact with damp or liquid foods since when the wax burns off in the kiln it leaves a porous clay surface behind - not tip top hygenically. However they make lovely fruit or wrapped sweet bowls - and you can even just sit and stroke them, if that’s your thing.
They are available in the shop now!
