Alfred University Summer Ceramics, Friday July 14th
This morning was overcast, with 100% humidity and almost no breeze. All the pots were still quite wet — not a good sign, as today marks the last chance for us to put pots in the bisque kiln in time to be glazed. I decided to put all my greenware (unfired clay) outside to dry. Eventually the sun peaked through the clouds, and the humidity dropped. The greenware indeed dried in time for the bisque kiln. Let’s hope the drying was not too brisk, because rapid, uneven drying leads to cracks in the bisqueware. These cracks are caused by residual stress resulting from differential shrinking of the clay in the drying process. In the meantime, I glazed two bowls and the two molded plates. I put all but one of the molded plates in the soda kiln, and reserved the other plate for the wood-firing on Sunday.
An MFA student presented the morning demo by showing us techniques for creating a negative image design using either an underglaze or a colored slip on either tissue paper or a plaster slab. On this negative, she poured casting slip, which, once dry, picked up the underglaze or colored slip image — now a positive image. She also did the same technique using wet clay; so the possibilities of decorating clay using negative images are endless.
In the afternoon I finished glazing — correcting some mistakes from the morning, and trimmed a few plates. The evening concerto concert/young artist competition was every bit as amazing as the performances on Thursday evening.
