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The Newsletter for Raku Artists and Raku Art Lovers In This Issue ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Welcome to the second issue. Subscribers have almost doubled since the first issue and I received some positive feedback on the first issue so I guess I'll keep plugging along with these each month. I will look forward to your feedback, suggestions, questions, and article ideas. You can send these to me at: editor@garyrferguson.com. Gary R. Ferguson ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Well "crunch" mode hit in the studio. I was madly throwing and bisquing pots the end of September and then madly glazing and Rakuing through October getting pieces ready for shows at the beginning of November. I was actually quite pleased with the production with one exception. I had a heck of a time with producing my shard wall art pieces http://www.garyrferguson.com/gallery2.htm. The first series I built basically all cracked during the drying stage and had to be scraped. The second series I built, I was successfully at getting them dry without cracking, but lost all but one in the bisque firing due to cracking. AARRGGHHH!!!! I'll definitely have to do some experimentation with producing these without the high loss rate. This was a big blow to me, especially after the Tip in the last issue about candling the Kiln to prevent cracks. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Studio Helper - Braun Mixer ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Gil Harrison Workshop Back in February of 2002 I had the opportunity to attend a workshop by Oregon artist Gil Harrison Gil's pieces are very recognizable and present a very consistent style.
His forms normally start with an exaggerated basket or vase form that has
a narrow foot, very wide belly, and then a narrow neck. The pieces are
then ornately embellished with long flowing handles and bars. One shape he makes is created from two thrown saucer shaped pots. He leaves a heavy foot and then bends out the walls using a large rib. To keep the walls from collapsing, he uses a small blowtorch to partially dry the clay. Two of these are thrown and then combined together. The base of the second one becomes the top of the combined pot, which can be thrown and shaped by adding a little water. The second thing Gil does is create extensive long flowing handles. These are all pulled from a wad of clay. He creates a fat carrot shape and then repeatedly pulls on the end with a well-wet hand. He is able to pull a coil over 4 feet long. This is quite a feat and takes considerable practice. I have problems just pulling a handle for a mug (smile). The coils are then cut, shaped, and attached to the pot. Again a blowtorch is used to quickly dry the handles so they can be placed into position without the use of supports. Almost all his pieces are glazed using the same technique. He dips them in a dark black/brown glaze then he adds a splash of color around the top of yellow, green, red, blue, or white. The colored glaze has a tendency to sit on top of the darker glaze, which produces a very dynamic effect. He makes a living purely from selling his artwork, which is quite a feat. He primarily sells direct from national art and craft shows across the US. He does have some gallery representation, but generally hawks his own pots. He has had the fortune of selling some of his work to Paramount Studios, which has been used on the set of Star Trek Voyager. The futuristic effect of his work is a perfect complement to the space theme. Click on the following link for some pictures from the workshop: http://www.garyrferguson.com/gilharrison.htm ~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Q: Where oh where has my Gerstley Borate gone? A: If you have ever mixed a Raku glaze it is very likely you have used a chemical called Gerstley Borate. Some feel this chemical was the "spawn of hell" due to inconsistency of the supply, how it reacted once mixed, or any number of other reasons. The company that produced the pottery grade of Gerstley Borate decided to stop producing the product. This sent the Rakuists into a panic. Many of the popular Raku glazes were without a key ingredient. As bad as it was, it was popular. Hence, many frits and substitute chemicals have been proposed as a substitute. A website that has done a detailed job analyzing the alternatives is http://www.gerstleyborate.com. I personally have not run out of my supply, nor tried any of the substitute materials in any recipes, so I don't have an opinion or preference yet. I imagine sometime soon I will be conducting a series of test to find out what seems to work best for me. When I discover anything, I will include the results in this newsletter. ~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Rogers Black ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Raku: A Practical Approach - by Steven Branfman. Branfman includes clay recipes (for those who are interested in actually mixing clay) and several glaze recipes with some details on how they perform. The real meat of the book is on kilns, building kilns, and firing a Raku kiln. Branfman covers firing in both an electric (I get that question a lot) and a gas kiln. He also details many plans and techniques for building your own Raku kiln. Branfman also details many variations of firing methods including reduction firing, piece removal, and post firing reduction methods. Sprinkled throughout the book are great examples of finished pieces using many different styles and techniques that I have used as a repeated source of inspiration. Overall, the book is a very excellent text that covers the practical aspect of the Raku art form. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ My full calendar can be seen at: http://www.garyrferguson.com/events.htm The remaining shows for 2003 are as follows: Eagle Holiday Show at the Eagle High School from November 2nd-3rd. Beaux Arts Holiday Sale at the Boise Art Museum from November 6th -
13th. The following is a link to the event. Empty Bowls project 500 Bowls - New Lark Publishing Book ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Raku For You Art Calendar Magazine Just Raku Archive http://www.garyrferguson.com/newsletters.htm ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ If you wish to no longer receive this newsletter send a email to
unsubscribe@garyrferguson.com with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. |
