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New Bern NC Bench by Janet Francoeur

In ceramics things can be more complicated than they first appear!

New Bern NC Bench by Janet Francoeur – A couple years ago when we were at UNC Hospital I saw benches in the garden. I knew immediately who did the metal work, one of our artists (we used to carry) at Carolina Creations, and sure enough when I called Cindy, she said yes, they had built the bench and a potter from Chapel Hill had made the tiles.

BLOG BENCH

I asked her to make two of them for me. Cindy said they wanted to make a few changes on the design and after a few months they arrived at our studio. That was a funny story in itself. These benches weigh A LOT! They are made of heavy gauge steel, zinc galvanized to prevent rusting,  painted with high quality marine grade epoxy paints, and like I said are heavy.

The trucker got them off the truck and onto the sidewalk. After some head scratching Michael and I got out two hand trucks and we managed to inch both of the benches closer to the studio door. It was a lot of work and we finally sat down on one of them to rest. Just then two young ladies came along and said “do you need some help?” They picked up each of the benches and carried them into the studio!

Then our lives got really complicated and they have been sitting in our entryway ever since. I’m finally at the point that I can tackle them. On one of the benches I decided to do a new bern scene like I’ve done for some back splashes and platters. The only problem is I use earthenware for the back splashes and platters – and it won’t hold up outside in freezing and thawing conditions.

So you would think I would just go and get other clay. It’s not that easy. There are lots of kinds of clay and they all are not appropriate for tile making. So you have to do a lot of testing, will they fire flat? Will my glazes hold their color at a higher temperature? If there is too much grog in it will I be able to draw a straight line?

Well the first clay I tried had way too much grog in it, I couldn’t get a smooth enough surface to draw on. I’ll use that clay to make some totems with. So I eventually bought 4 different kinds of clay and finally found one I liked.

The clay shrinks as it dries then more again when fired so I had to figure the shrinkage out. The people that blend the clay give you a shrinkage rate but like everything in ceramics you need to do your own testing.

BLOG RULER

I rolled out a strip of clay and marked it off by 1/2 inch increments. Then I could use that to measure the bench opening to see how big my clay slab needed to be (also considering room for grout lines between the tiles).

So you can see in this photo that from wet to being fired to cone 5 it had shrunk by a whole inch . 

I made a test of my underglazes to see how the color holds up at the hotter cone 5. Usually the reds burn out but these Spectrum underglazes seemed to hold up. I had to find a clear glaze to go over my underglazes, since the one I’m used to using will not fire to the cone 5 that I need. I glazed half of the tiles with the cone 5 clear gloss and half with cone 5 clear matt. The right side is gloss the left mat, I like the gloss better. In some glazes you can’t see any difference in others you can.

BLOG GLAZE TEST

I got the tiles made….

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dried them, fired them to cone 04 then I drew the image onto the tiles with pencil…then colored with underglazes…

bench tiles

then covered them with clear glaze and fired to cone 5, which is the vitrification temperature of this particular clay.

Vitrification is the hardening, tightening and finally the partial glassification of the clay. Vitrification results from fusions or melting of the various components of the clay. The strength of fired clay is increased by the formation of new crystalline growth within the clay body, particularly the growth of mullite crystals. Mullite is an aluminum silicate characterized by a long needlelike crystal. These lace the structure together, giving it cohesion and strength. (from The Big Ceramic Store Website)

Then there is the issue of attaching the tiles to the bench. I needed to build up the base and was not comfortable attaching them directly to the metal so I used Wedi Board, Wedi Board is lightweight, easy to cut, and a completely waterproof tile backer board.

I attached the Wedi Board to the bench with a urethane adhesive…I had to figure out what was the best for that – it had to be suitable for a wet application and outdoors.

…then I covered the board with adhesive and attached the tiles leaving even (well kind of even) grout lines.

Once the adhesive had dried I applied grout that I treated for outdoor use.

And DONE! It only took me a couple years to do.

Like I said, things sometimes are more complicated than they first appear.

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Tammy Leigh a sculptor I admire

People are always asking me what inspires my work, a lot of the time it is seeing what other people do. Sometimes it’s just in awe of what they are doing and how they are doing it. It encourages me to go out on a limb and try something I’m not sure I can do, not copying their work, just pushing my own to another level.

I met such a person a couple months ago, Tammy Leigh.

The sculptures she does of birds are astounding!


Tammy is a potter from Hickory. After taking a pottery class at the Hickory Msueum of Art she quit her telecommunications job of 16 years and became a full time potter.

Knowing how fragile unfired clay is I don’t see how she can sculpt it without knocking pieces off as she works, then more importantly gets it into the kiln once dry.


One thing we have in common is our ability to promote our work. What good is it to do a lot of artwork and have it pile up in a corner? The joy for us is in the creating, once it is done it is exciting to see someone else that has to have it in their home.

 

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Garden Sculpture in the works part 2

So instead of just finishing the sculpture I decided to also do a bird bath, so got the bowl for the top built and now letting it dry. Actually its not unusual to have many pieces going at once, since I’m building for out doors the pieces have to be somewhat robust (thick) so take a long time to dry. Even when I think they are dry – room temperature to the touch, the piece is cool to the touch if there is still moisture – I put them in the kiln and heat it to about 150 degrees and shut it off. I’ll do this a couple times until I put my head in and my glasses don’t steam up!

For the totem I decided to make 2 tops for now, a simple round topper and a bird. Both are in the drying stage.

My glaze samples all turned out – very unusual! These are Potters Choice glazes.

My favorites are

I think earthtones are more appropriate for outdoor sculptures so am going looking for a few more greens/yellows/browns. Of course I could always just fire this clay to vitrification with no glaze or just a clear glaze.

The neat, well one of the neat things about Steve’s technique is that I can add or take away components depending on how tall I want it to be (or how much money the customer wants to spend!).

 

 

 

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Garden Sculpture in the Works Part 1

Garden totem in the works!  Quite a few years ago shortly after I met Steve Fabrico I went to his studio and took a weekend workshop with him on his handbuilding technique.

I’ve done a couple of these sculptures with the techniques he taught and am pleased I’ve got time to do this type of work again.

 

The pieces are super soft at this stage and since they are quite thick I’ve put them back in their molds (except the roundish one) so the pieces would keep their shape until dry. I had to shorten the tall mold or it would not have fit into my kiln. I’ve made a top and a bottom of each piece and put them together.

My next issue, how am I going to get the base piece into the kiln without damaging it? I think I’ve got that figured out too. Wrap in paper, put back into mold, put it on a small kiln shelf that I can leave underneath the piece while it’s being fired.

Most of the pottery I do is low fire earthenware but if a piece is going to be out in the weather it needs to be stoneware. What’s the difference?

From “The Basics of Pottery Clay” by Beth Peterson….

What is clay? Is it simply dirt? Well, yes and no. “Dirt” covers a lot of ground, so to speak. We can break dirt into several sections: topsoil, clay, inelastic earth, and rock. Topsoil contains a lot of organic material, which makes it good for growing plants. Clays and inelastic earths are the results of decomposing rocks, in which the particle size is extremely small. Rocks include bedrock and boulders all the way down to fine sand. Most clays contain several different types of clay minerals with different amounts of metal oxides and organic matter, this is what sets the different types apart. 

Clay differs from the inelastic earths and fine sand because of its ability, when wet with the proper amount of water, to form a cohesive mass and to retain its shape when molded. This quality is known as clay’s plasticity. When heated to high temperatures, clay also partially melts, resulting in the tight, hard rock-like substance 

Classes of Clay

There are many different types of clay bodies you can work with.  Clay can be divided into several classes, based on characteristics and at what temperature the clay must be fired to in order for it to become mature, or reach its optimum hardness and durability.

The three most commonly used clay bodies are earthenware clay bodies, mid-fire stoneware clay bodies, and high-fire stoneware clay bodies. 

Earthenware Clays

Earthenware is the most commonly found type of found clay. Earthenware clays were some of the earliest clays used by potters, and it is the most common type of clay found. These clays are highly plastic (easily worked) and can be sticky. Earthenware clays contain iron and other mineral impurities which cause the clay to reach its optimum hardness at between 1745°F and 2012°F (950°C and 1100°C).   – Unless totally covered with glaze it will remain somewhat porous.

Stoneware is fired at very high temepratures. 

Stoneware clays are plastic and are often grey when moist. Their fired colors range through light grey and buff, to medium grey and brown. Fired colors are greatly affected by the type of firing.

Mid-Fire Stoneware Clay Bodies are formulated to fire to maturity between 2150°F and 2260°F (1160°C and 1225°C).

High-Fire Stoneware Clay Bodies   fire to their mature hardness between 2200°F and 2336°F (1200°C and 1300°C).

When fired to maturity some of the clay particles melt and the clay turns to stone, making it impervious to water.

I hope I’ll have time over the next year to do a lot of sculpture!

Phase two – bisque fire the individual pieces.

Next post – figuring out my glazes and sculpting the top.