Brush holder/rack

I made this demonstration piece for a school workshop. The GCSE brief was on organic and natural forms. 

 It was made using white earthenware. The clay was slab rolled and when it was leather hard I cut the 3 pieces out using a prepared stencil. Holes were then pierced before score and slip joining.

 I then extruded some clay using my extruding tool and threaded the thin coil through the piercings.


I then hand moulded the leaves before score and slip joining them on.

After bisque firing I glazed it in contrasting colours before firing again at a higher rate. The threaded coils hold the brushes or pencils in place. The piece helped to inspire the students for their brief.

Ceramic beads and pendants

 I recently joined a jewellery beading class at my local library and made a number of necklaces and bracelets using various crystal beads. The beads were interwoven almost like lace making. The class inspired me to make my own beads and pendants.

 These beads were made using porcelain clay. Porcelain has quite a high shrinkage rate so I made them large enough to compensate. I strung the beads on fine camphor wire that I threaded onto a tile rack. After the initial bisquit firing I glazed them using high fire porcelain glazes and mayco glazes.

Some of the beads I fired were used to make necklaces like this one. I used a mixture of pearls and ceramic beads and threaded them onto fishing wire.

Hand painted plate

I painted this design onto earthenware bisque using Mayco colours and glazes. As you can see, I adapted the previous painting to fit and compliment the round plate.The layered technique was fired to over 1000c.

This is a painting I did using Chinese water colours on rice paper. The paints have similar properties to ordinary water colour and gouache, giving the appearance of translucency.

pinch pots

This pinch pot was made as a demonstration for a pottery workshop. It is a very simple design to follow and prettily decorated using porcelain glazes.

This pinch pot was made in two parts and then joined to form a vessel.I added a coil of clay to create a lip. The embellishments were made using a clay extruder and were added when the pot was leather hard. The pot was bisque fired to 1000c. I glazed it using a metalic high fire porcelain to 1200c.

This pinch pot was made using stoneware clay and the spiky parts were added at the leather hard stage. It was fired to bisque, then glazed and high fired.


It was made to accompany a large commissioned fruit bowl.

chinese lantern

 Here's a chinese lantern I made a bout a year ago.
It was inspired by feng shui, which i'm really interested in.
Its made using grogged stoneware which is ideal for slab building.

I slab rolled 11 pieces of clay and left to go leather hard. I then cut the pieces to size using a card template. I joined the pieces together using score and slip method. The piece was then bisquit fired prior to glazing. The high fire glaze was then fired again to over 1200c.

Here it is from another angle. The towers can be lit using battery operated tea lights. It can be placed in the home in a good feng shui corner, or outside as it is frost proof.


Looks quite magical when lit.

Matterhorn 2012

wendywallwork Folksy

2012
Wow ! A trip that was full of wonder. Stayed in Zermatt for a week, hiking around the base of the marvelous Matterhorn.

chocolate black fruit bowl

 This bowl was made with chocolate black clay and white stoneware clay. I started by rolling small balls of clay in each colour. I then pressed the balls into an ordinary fruit bowl that I lined with clingfilm. To get the swirly effect I gently smoothed the interior with a metal kidney. When it was leather hard I lifted the ware out of the existing fruit bowl and peeled back the clingfilm. It was left to dry and clear glazed before firing to both the clays firing range.

This pot was made using three different clays. Redware, chocolate black and white stoneware. All the clays had similar shrinkage rate and firing temps.
The coiling method was used for this ware to enable the different clays to fit in the design. Once the ware was leather hard I burnished it with the back of a metal spoon. It was then fired at a very slow rate. The pot now has a lovely sheen where it was burnished.