71 Eunoma

71 Eunoma
30 x 30 x 30
Wood, wire, fire

Things are gearing up as the countdown for my Thesis show begins in earnest ... I have 40 days to go before my exhibition opening and 13 days til my draft Thesis statement is due to be handed in.

Today one of my pieces was photographed for the NSCAD Graduate Exhibition Catalogue, which is designed by NSCAD students Grace Laemmer and photographed by Erica Flake.  A big thank you to them both for their magic x

Glaze tests with wire

I have been experimenting incorporating wire into and onto glazes. 

Loosely wrapping the wire around the already glazed object I was curious to see what would happen to the wire. Would it melt into the glaze? Or would it sit on top of the glaze? Would it colour the glaze?

Majolica with copper and steel wire test.
Cone 04

The test results were exciting and unexpected. The copper wire bleached into the glaze, creating a green tinge with a smooth surface, and the steel wire became rough and textured like sand paper. 

Shino reduction glaze with copper wire
Cone 6
and gold lustre

The results were completely different when fired in a hotter kiln (Cone 6) with a reduction atmosphere. The copper completely melted and turned black. 

I was also interested to see what would happen if I then applied a gold lustre glaze on top of this effect. Gold lustre fires at a very low temperature (Cone 022) which meant that it didn't affect the previous results from the reduction firing. 

I can't wait to try these effects on bigger pieces of ceramics!