Todays workshop:

Sound, I took a recording from the cafe and experimented with my favourite sound from the cafe. I used and edited the sound of a coke can.

Coke Can Soundclourd

sounds like tennis.

My site:
 The site I have chosen to look is “Mamsey’s” thai cafe in Hyde Park. I have been here a few times and am really interested in the decor of the cafe, it is full of students artwork and has really interesting tiles. The tiles on the outside of the cafe rule different colours and make up doorstep. The tiling on the floor inside the larger tiles with the two-time repetitive pattern. The most interesting part of the cafe for me was the bathroom, the bathroom looks like a small cave all those with the Mosaic with different pieces of broken crockery with patterns on the bathroom looks like it belongs in Morocco.
I spoke to the owner about to my project on the cafe and he said to me that he would be happy to display any work of mine or use any crockery and I made if he likes what I make. This really inspired me to work towards creating something specifically for my site. And also gave me an interesting insight into the idea of collaboration.

 The main thing i noticed was the patterns in the ceramics and the patterns created by the walls i found this extremely interesting and would be interesting to recreate them or utilise the colours in some way.

 

I also really liked this fridge i felt its gave the cafe a lot of character.

Unfortunately today I went in to try and turn some cylinders everyone I tried to turn went to pieces. Andy said “we all have our bad days and they will always be when you're demonstrating, just pretend you're mucking up to show what you're not meant to do.” Helpful advice.

After talking to Cheryl and said to look more into my site, but it a few sound recordings in different cafes I also took a look around for decor that related to my work on the wheel. After looking at Kaneko I decided his work was something I really liked and wanted my work to reflect. So it was interesting for me for something to be culturally relevant in style and perhaps simplistic but relate to the process in the final outcome, like how all the glaze on Kaneko’s work reflects the process in the kiln that it's been through.

I Also Found this interesting site Collaborative piece:

Cathy Mills and Susanna Bearfoot. A collaboration and site specific project- Susanna Bearfoot is a muscian and Cathy Mills is a ceramicist. There collaboration is creating wood land music using installations in ceramics. Sounds are a mixture of acoustic pots and children playing in the wood lands.

I like the general aesthetics of the pots and how they look rustic enough to fit in with there surroundings.
They look at the idea of hanging and growing.

Ed who is also of course help me today if, he is a lot more advanced at pottery than I am. He's getting one-on-one lessons in the pottery studio, which I would love to do but accessibility is a limited.

His tutors just teach him at the moment by throwing cylinders and not buying something for purpose. By learning to flow cylinder you learn to centre the clay and you learn how to pull the clay, it also teaches you how to pull the clay up and keep it even the whole way. Instead of trying to throw bowls I'm going to start throwing cylinders to perfect my technique. Ed showed me how to turn up at which makes it look really neat for biscuit firing. To turn the clay you should put it upside down on the wheel and put clay around the bottom to keep it in place, then you can use several different shape tools and told them lightly next to the clay to create engravings as the clay spins on the wheel. This creates a symmetrical and even pattern the whole way round the bowl. At  first I found it difficult to apply the right amount of pressure to create an engraving but at the same time not dig into the clay too much. As not all of my bowls were centred some of the markings and finishings I made weren't consistent all the way round.

After close turned and is used to create patterns against into the kiln to be biscuit fired. The kiln is still something I need to get a grasp on Andy has printed some information for me to read about the kiln which I plan to make notes on.



These are my Bowls once they were biscuit fired:

  

I find cutting play with a cheese wire extremely satisfying. While looking through my coloured clay book I found an artist who combines different coloured clays and cuts through them to make interesting patterns. The artist Ben Davies has created some really interesting patterned pots. I very much like the organic movement of his patterns as they are not completely in his control.

I'm finding it difficult to get help learning how to turn it is coming very apparent I will have to be self taught. I have started to watch you cheap tutorials to help me develop my skills as I find them more useful than the books.

After watching since tutorials and went back to the poetry  wheel, this time I took 5 piece of clay with me and began throwing, although I did not manage to centre every piece of clay I did manage to make 5 bowls some of which were centred. One in particular went out of control but has turned out to just look a bit more quirky than before. Once you have thrown a bowl you have to flood the wheel with water and pull the water under the pot using wire so that the pot slides off the 

wheel. I definitely miss shaped my pots as I wasn't careful enough pulling off the wheel. Something I learned from this was that to dry the clay using a sponge while it is still spinning on the wheel makes it more solid. I put the bowls in the damp covered overnight so that I could turn them the next day.

I found this one very useful however my bowls did no look like hers, still need a lot of pratice.

For some strange reason I decided to buy a children's throwing wheel. This was a mistake as it was a children's painting wheel. I decided to to find something within ceramics and pottery which I really liked and that would keep me really motivated. So I went to the library and got for books:  Studios Potter Handbook and a complete Potter’s Handbook-  they had a useful tips on throwing. I got a book on colouring clay is only to know how to glaze.

 I also got a book on Jun Kaneko- A interdisciplinary artist who usually focuses on ceramics. His Japanese and you can see the cultural influences in his work. They are simplistic pieces which he has decorated with simplistic shapes and textured  glazed  colours.

 I also really like his style of glazing and fill it is something I can apply to my own work.

He is a good example of someone using ceramics for site specific reasons, his workers usually commissioned to a certain site. 

I went to the well today with 6 balls of clay. I've been told to stop practising using red earthenware clay. This is cheap clay and is a lot rougher than stoneware. Close very tough and you have to apply a lot of pressure, the 1st skill of throwing is getting clay centred. This is done by pushing the clay up into a cylinder, then back down again into around tablet. After attempting to send to my place several times I got very impatient and tried opening them up into a ball, every time the ball collapse. I created 6 cases of rubbish.

I later researched this is how to center.