Category: work in progress

Incidental slip effects

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 4th February 2022

My slow burning, smoke firing journey continues….

swirl pattern in a bucket of thick pottery slip

One of the most satisfying outcomes has been the incidental surfaces and effects that appear when I’ve been getting creative applying a slip resist to the surface of my bisque fired ware.

In an attempt to echo the experimental way I manipulate freshly thrown form, I’ll often take a thick brush loaded with slip and flick it at the poor unsuspecting pots. Most of it hits the target but there is also a considerable amount that doesn’t! Splash-back and wayward slip often deposit on the work surface, floor and pretty much everything in a five mile radius!

pottery slip bucket and lid

Below are some examples of chance and incidental slip landings – one of which looks remarkably like the surface of the moon. Wonder if I could replicate the effect on the surface of a pot? Maybe a moon jar!?

pottery slip splatters on a wooden board at jon williams studio in herefordshire circular board covered in thick pottery slip at ceramic artists jon williams studio near the malvern hills

Tags happy accident, learning through play, materials, play, playing with clay, playing with fire, slip, slip decoration, smoke fired, wet clay

artist experiments Interactive art work in progress

Blue shell

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 18th April 2021

Tags interactive, interactive art, leather hard, rocking pots, thrown and assembled, wip, work in progress

experiments work in progress

Sagging saggers

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 7th April 2021

broken saggers used in the fire place by potter jon williams to decorate his pots with smoke

I think its time to retire these ol’ saggers! #kintsugi anyone?

Also… not sure what the shiny black stuff is on the inside the one on the left – tar or creosote maybe? Whatever it is I like it!! ???

Tags fire, fire place, materials, playing with clay, playing with fire, R&D, research and development, sagger fired, saggers, smoke, smoke fired, smoke fired ceramics

experiments garden sculpture Interactive art Outside surface quality work in progress

Snail pace!

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 2nd April 2021

Taking time to appreciate the subtle effects of layering and wiping away slip decoration….

At the moment, these snail sculptures are at the leather hard stage (my favorite!) and still have to dry for a couple of weeks before going in the kiln.

Once they’ve been fired, the snails are to be exhibited at several garden sculpture exhibitions later this year.

As with a lot of my work, these pieces have an interactive element. Visitors will be able to gently rock the snails back and forth to create rhythmic sounds.

Tags garden, garden sculpture, interactive, interactive art, kinetic art, leather hard, musical pots, outside, play, research and development, rocking pots, sculpture, slip decoration, snails, sound art

artist experiments work in progress

Out of the ashes

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 21st March 2021

Somewhere in this blackened sagger is a little burnt offering in need of wire wool & wax tlc!

Tags fire, fire place, herefordshire, learning through play, playing with fire, process, R&D, research and development, ripped clay, sagger fired, smoke, smoke fired, wip, work in progress

artist Outside work in progress

Antennae

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 14th March 2021

I love making these!!! – so much fun to produce! ??

They start life on the potters wheel as thin, solid cones. Texture is added whilst the clay spins and each one finally curled from the tip down.

They’re insect antennae, added to the bodies of sculptural bees, bugs and snails. ? ? ?

That said, I reckon they hold their own as mini-sculptures reminiscent of unfurling ferns or organic iron work.

Tags bees, bugs, freshly thrown, garden, learning through play, materials, playing with clay, potters wheel, soft clay, terracotta, thrown and assembled, work in progress

experiments work in progress

Slab building

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 21st February 2021

Although I’m a thrower, I do enjoy the challenge of working with other pottery techniques.

These slabbed constructions are ceramic bases, designed to support a sculpture on a metal rod. That said, I reckon they look pretty cool as stand alone pieces. I particularly enjoy the potential for geometric pattern making when the bases are lined up in groups.

Tags eastnor pottery, herefordshire, learning through play, playing with clay, process, R&D, research and development, slabs, techniques, work in progress

experiments Outside work in progress

Saggers

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 21st January 2021

Whilst experimenting with smoke fired pottery on the BBQ last Spring, I found a lot of my pots developed hair-line cracks and fissures due to the thermal shock of the flames licking the ware. There was only one course of action – make myself some saggers!

Those of you who might not be familiar with the word, a sagger is a protective fire-clay box enclosing ceramic ware while it is being fired.

Traditionally, they were used in the pottery industry to protect the pottery whilst it was fired in huge bottle kilns.

Above are some fine examples of antique saggers, piled high at Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke. They’ve obviously seen some action and been in and out of the kiln many many times, protecting their precious contents from the ferocity of the fire. The pitted and roasted surfaces really tell a story – I love the effect!

I used brick clay to make my saggers – x3 crude and rather brutal looking cylinders with lids made on the potter’s wheel and fired to 960 degrees.

Not only do the saggers prevent cracking, but I have produced some really intense blacks by packing combustible materials around the work inside the sagger. The twigs and sawdust inside the sagger smolder in the oxygen deprived atmosphere rather than burst into flame. This produces a lot of smoke which permeates the ceramic surface with great effect.

I’ve had so much fun experimenting with the saggers over the Autumn and Winter, firing them on the BBQ, bonfires and inside the house in the fireplace during the colder months.

Sticks of charcoal produced by the slow burning of hazel sticks inside the sagger

Tags brick clay, fire, garden, learning through play, materials, outside, playing with fire, R&D, research and development, smoke, work in progress

artist experiments Interactive art work in progress

Milk Chocolate Bees

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 14th January 2021

I’ve been developing more rattles and shakers, this time in the shape of bugs and bees. Each little beastie is made entirely from sections created on the potter’s wheel. The separate elements are joined together and smoothed to give the appearance of being whole. (Each bee has been made from x4 separate wheel throw sections.)

The freshly assembled insects above have just been coated in a layer of thick, luscious white slip and I think you’ll agree, they look pretty tasty at this stage.

They do change quite a bit when they emerge from the kiln:

To give you a sense of scale – each bee or bug can sit happily in the palm of one hand. Tiny little ceramics!

Tags bees, interactive, interactive art, percussion, process, R&D, sound art, wet clay, work in progress

experiments work in progress

Disintegration pots

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 15th June 2020

These poor little fellas have been thrown, slipped, cut, stretched and pulled apart on the potter’s wheel!

I’m enjoying seeing how far I can push the material with the aim to capture or preserve the point of disintegration. It’s a tricky balance to strike and I probably loose a third of what I’m making?

Anyway, it’s great fun and very rewarding when you get one that stands up. Each pot is truly individual and I’m considering smoke firing them to add a further layer of randomness!

Tags learning through play, leather hard, materials, play, playing with clay, potters wheel