Tag: learning through play

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

experiments surface quality

Thorny Charcoal

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 11th April 2021

These thorny sticks of charcoal are an inspiring bi-product of recent smoke firing and sagger experiments.

They originated as garden waste, pruned from my father in law’s rose bush and contributed to the marks and effects on this little pot.

I’m marveling at the texture and shape of the charred, blackened twigs and excited by the possibilities of using them in my work.

Tags charcoal, eastnor, fire, herefordshire, learning through play, playing with fire, process, R&D, research and development, smoke, smoke fired, smoke fired ceramics

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

artist Exhibitions

Childhood inspiration

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 4th March 2021

Contemporary Ceramics asked me to provide a short piece of writing to accompany the work I sent them. It was suggested I comment on how I got into working with clay:

As a child I loved drawing and messing about with mud. We lived on the edge of a large housing estate and a planning dispute over freshly dug foundations on an empty plot next door, meant the deep trenches remained void of concrete for several years. What a fabulous landscape for myself, brother, and our mates to roam and explore. The walls of the foundations exposed seams of soft yellow clay, perfect for poking fingers and sticks. We dug old bottles, (there must have been a Victorian rubbish dump) squashed balls of clay onto the ends of sticks and hurled them at brick walls (and each other!) to see how long the clay stayed there. They always landed with a satisfying, heavy thud which over time, must have annoyed the hell out of the neighbours as the activity came to an abrupt halt with a proper telling off! Even though the forest of sticks and clay have long since dropped off the wall, the activity has informed and inspired my approach to ceramic practice and my educational/community engagement work.

My art teachers at school were encouraging and although it was a subject in which I excelled; I had no idea about careers in the creative industries. It wasn’t until the age of 15 I encountered the head of my local art-school and in a blinding revelation, realised that ‘art’ could be a job! I studied in Swindon & then Bath, my experience culminating in a 1^st class degree in ceramics and 3d design. Whilst at Art School I met my future wife and fellow potter Sarah Monk and in 1994 we moved to Herefordshire, founded Eastnor Pottery and started a family.

Tags eastnor pottery, learning through play, materials, playing with clay

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

experiments Outside

Smoke fired pottery

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 30th June 2020

In an attempt to add further depth to my ceramic surfaces, I’ve been messing about with fire in the Pottery garden.

I had dabbled with smoke firing once before in my role as an artist in residence at Evesham Nursery School. I have very fond memories of working with the staff and children in their amazing Forest School site on the outskirts of town.

The young artists had great fun painting thick wet slip onto bisque pots they’d created on one of my previous visits to the Nursery.

Once the pots, leaves, staff and children’s faces! had been daubed in slip, we set about building a fire around the pots, watching as the flames and smoke curled around the children’s creations.

When the fire had died down, we carefully extracted the scorching pots using raku tongs and plunged them into a bucket of water, admiring the sizzling, bubbling and frothing as they sunk to the bottom.

As soon as the pots were cool enough to handle, the children set about removing ash and scrubbing away the painted slip to reveal the pale terracotta – a terrific contrast to the blackened, smoked areas of the unmasked surface.

I remember being encouraged and inspired by the children’s results and keen to try out the process for myself. Unfortunately, as with a lot of things, I never seemed to find the time to explore the technique. That is until Lock down!

I discovered an amazing website called Ceramic Arts Network, packed full with articles and accessible features. My fave being how to smoke fire pots on a BBQ!

I have learnt so much from the first firing (thermal shock can be so frustrating!) and am looking forward to trying again using saggars to protect and pattern the work.

Tags community, EYFS, fire, forest school, garden, learning through play, materials, play, playing with fire, research and development, smoke, 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!