Well, I have been busy ! It all started when a furniture designer The Shabby Chiffonier asked me to create some draw knobs for some furniture she was designing. She was inspired by Alice in Wonderland and Mackenzie Childs designs. So off I went collecting and pinning designs in this theme until I came up with some unique designs.
I then researched the different techniques in making ceramic draw/cupboard knobs and decided the best technique to use would be wheel thrown in high fired white earthenware grogged clay ( K112 ).
Each thrown knob was then hand sculpted. I made the small fairytale mushrooms separately and joined them onto the main body of the knob.
The hats were totally hand sculpted, no wheel work necessary.
The swirly pattern was created by using a hand held sculpting tool when the clay was leather hard.
The faces and hair were carved out of the wheel thrown knobs. One male and one female face because they will be used for 2 bedside cabinets, his and hers.
I inserted a deep hole in the underside center. Taking care not to distort the ball shape. The apertures were made 14 % larger to allow for shrinkage during firing. This allowed the bolt inners to sit comfortably after firings. I used my white pencil measuring 715mm. inners measured .
I measured the bolt inner with some digital callipers for precision measurements.
Once thoroughly dried they were bisque fired to 1004c. Plugs out for the first 5 hrs. No soak
