Plaster models and lots of hard work

I have here some photos of my last week work. I am trying to reproduce my paper panels in plaster but I must admit that it it very complicated and I am slowly loosing my confidence in the pieces... I will keep working on them until I will see the results - without a cast I don't know if it's working or not. I will try to stay positive but it's hard.

I've started with a plaster batt and marked the lines of my design.

The I got it cut in 4 and started shaping the angles.

I will be working on the other lines now - sorry that they are not very visible here, will update soon.

At the same time I have my 'simple' model made and now I am waiting for silicon to dry. I will multiply this model and arrange it to make a big tile model.

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Naked Raku

In the end of January I have attended a Naked Raku workshop in Thomastown organised by Ceramics Ireland . I already was familiar with both Raku and Naked Raku but wanted to extend my knowledge in this field. Naked Raku is a firing technique in which the pot is masked with the slip and then glazed and fired @ 1000 C then the kiln is opened and pots are transferred to the reduction chamber filled with sawdust, and covered to accommodate the reduction process. The difference between the Raku and Naked Raku is that in the second process the glaze is pealed off after firing and the pot unglazed- Naked. It all seems quite confusing and a bit complicated but in fact it is very simple, fast and effective way of decorating ceramics. The only disadvantage is that the pot is porous and can be use only as decoration as it is not food safe. With time the smoke marks can get lighter which can be slowed down by applying oil or floor polish paste on pots. ...

Porcelain Paperclay

I still don't know exactly how my finished pieces are going to look like but I know that I want to make something light and translucent. That is why I had decided to work in porcelain. Some of the forms can be too difficult to construct in porcelain without risking that they will collaps in the kiln. In order to overcome this obstacle I had prepared some paperclay which is lighter and hopefully will keep the shape better. First I cut porcelain in small pieces and let them get bone dry. Then I crushed them even more and added water to make smooth slip. When I had porcelain slip prepared I teared up some toilet paper and soaked it in hot water. After some time I sieved it and mixed with porcelain slip.

Some glazes and more textures

I am almost done with the preparation for the Degree Show and in last 2 weeks I've tested some glazes on the tiles. I didn't want to loose the definition of the lines and decided to glaze only insets and I am very please with the results :D I also had a chance to take better photos of my glazed prints and textures. On top of that there are some new textures here and I think that I will live them unglazed. So here it goes: Still hot from the kiln :D

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