ceramics

[embers_log]

Ceramics: American Raku
(obviously this is not traditional Japanese Raku, it is a low fire process which has been developing and is still developing)
I’ve been focusing on a series of masks... first I made a very rough armatures out of bunched up newspaper (keeping it reasonably loose because the clay just needs a little support, and I do want it to

Comments

[ancientgirl]

Oh wow! I love that fourth one, the one with a bit of green in it. These are wonderful. And I like how this last one looks kind of like a plant almost.

You're really getting good at this.

[embers_log]

thanks...I like that 4th one too... it is small but very skull like in it's texture except where the glossy/shiny green is creating a very different look. It isn't something you can really control so I have to just create something and then be willing to enjoy how it comes out.

Yeah, that last one does look very plant-like... the texture looks a lot like fern fronds (in fact I called it a fern monster...LOL) but if you saw it in person you would be amazed at the rainbow of glittering color in that texture.

I am definitely having fun with this, it is definitely fulfilling some desire for me.

[ancientgirl]

That's kind of neat though, because you get a surprise.

[embers_log]

sometimes an unpleasant surprise... but actually these were all really pretty nice. I really was kind of thrilled....
I'll be experimenting with some of the other glazes (getting away from the copper) in the future. There is one called 'oil slick' that is completely a rainbow sheen, I don't know what I'll get but I do need to try it! LOL

[callmeserenity]

Ooh! NEAT! You have so much talent!

I think this Raku glazing thing is what Ash and I did at the renn faire last year when I made a frog for my aunt. Lemme see....

Before: http://flickr.com/photos/callmeserenity/293771316/in/set-72157594369135273/

After: crap. I can't find the after picture. but the paint was green and coppery and the parts I didn't paint turned black and then there was glaze.

But, of course, the pieces were prebuilt, I didn't make my own clay masks or anything cool like that.

I liked it and I want to paint a few more pieces if I go back this year.

[embers_log]

thanks!
I think it makes sense that they would go w/a Raku technique since it is low fire (you don't have to get the kiln up to such extremely hot temperatures, and you don't have to cool down slowly...you can take it out hot, burn it in saw dust, and then plunge it in water to cool it down quickly).

In reality the high fire techniques were pretty much universally known and used all over the world for over a thousand years... According to my art teacher the Japanese only started doing Raku firing about 500 years ago. It surprised me but evidently it was the fact that the crackle surface and unusual colors were the attraction.

[callmeserenity]

Huh. That's interesting. You'd think it would have been the other way around, the the low fire would have come around first. Strange.

[embers_log]

yeah, that is exactly what I had assumed too! I was shocked and amazed. But evidently low fire was chosen, not because it is more practical (because it totally is far less practical) but because it is so beautiful.

[liluv]

Oh nice! So great how you caught the different expressions/emotions with these masks!
Will you hang them up? This would be cool, although masks on walls are generally a bit creepy to me (Remember the BtVS episode in season 3? LOL, I guess I am supersticious). But it would really be a great thing IMO.

[embers_log]

(note to self: do not give liluv creepy mask for Christmas...)

I am starting to work with different expressions, my early ones were fairly happy but I did an angry one yesterday; here it is still as wet clay:
http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b4/embers_log/My%20Art%20Work/ceramics/?action=view¤t=angrymanclay.jpg
I was thinking of glazing it in reds & purples.

So right now I'm taking turns hanging them up, living with each one individually, not as a group. I don't think they are as interesting taken together.

[liluv]

LOL, sorry. But I really find masks on walls a bit creepy.

I like the angry man! red and purles is a good colour for anger.

Oh, I think they would be fabulous as a group! Because it actually emphasizes how detailed you made them. But of course I don´t know for sure since I´ve only seen them on pics. :-)

[embers_log]

Don't be sorry...it is good for me to know, so I don't make you feel all guilty for hiding the mask in a box since putting it on the wall would creep you out! LOL

The problem with the group is that you see the similarities of color or design style without seeing what each mask has to say individually. At least for me, at this stage, I'm more interested in each one alone.... It was kind of over-whelming to get so many of them done at the same time!