Fun with Texture

Richard wrote:
Have you tried using textured vinyl wallpaper? Just a light coating of Pam
or WD40 (don't like the smell) keeps the paper from sticking. Very simple
and always successful.

Betsy

"Lindsay MacArthur" wrote in message
...

I mainly make functional stoneware pieces fired to ^6 in an electric
kiln. I want to experiment with some fun textering and embedding and
was looking for ideas. For example, I know a potter who occasionally
fires some pieces wrapped in gauze and has even done a couple of
pieces where she wrapped slip dipped gauze around a balloon, popped
the balloon when slip was dry and fired the piece like that.

So, if you have any fun ideas please share :-)

LMac



Texture, texture, texture! I love using different textures! I attended
a workshop many years ago given by a young woman who did huge wall
murals in clay. She keeps slabs of clay (moist and on boards to keep
flat) in the trunk of her car. When she sees a texture she likes, she
jumps out of her car, slaps a slab on the spot, and takes a new texture
tool home to be bisqued. I wish I could remember her name. I was most
impressed by her work and her methods.

I haven't had guts enough to completely follow here example yet, but I
do pick up anything I think will produce interesting texture. My
texture tool box now holds pieces of driftwood, what's left of an
ancient rosemary bush my dogs ate (wonderfully gnarled), palm fronds
from my neighbors tree (one almost got me in the head on a windy day),
interestingly woven wire and rope to roll across the surface, and slabs
that I have taken from my yard (large rocks, gravel, huge tree roots,
etc). There's no end to the possibilities. Just keep your eyes open
and dream.

Jan C.

In one of my more frustrated moods one evening,
I started whacking a slab with a piece of Christmas
tree branch (short needle pine). Turned out to be
one of my nicest pieces yet. Everyone wants me
to duplicate it, and of course I can't. How do you
duplicate random slaps with a branch??!!

Another of my nicer textural pieces involved my
throwing a tall skinny cylinder (think 18" candleholder).
Couldn't for the life of me come up with an idea on
what to do next, so as it rotated slowly on the wheel,
I sat with a chopstick in my hand, unknowingly tapping
on it with the sharpened "handle" end (corner of the edge)
while daydreaming...er, looking for an idea g.
It turned into something looking like an elephant's trunk!

Texture will amaze you, even when you aren't trying :)
And believe me, you can use ANYTHING, from a handful
of ball bearings or marbles to elastic bands fired one
at a time (at a picture of your boss you've carved into
a slab...but we won't go there :)

The important thing is to have fun with it, and not be
afraid to try something "unconventional".

Best,
Wayne Seidl

Jan---I forget, do you live in Calif. in the Bay Area? If so, could the person
giving the class be Elaine Pinkernel? I took a workshop with her, and she does
like lots of texture.

The Big Ceramic Store is having a sale on their books, among other things. You
may want to check it out and see if they have anything that sounds like it
could help.

http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Books...CeramicSurface

Yes, I am in CA - but have moved from Bay Area.

I honestly don't remember her name. The woman I am referring to has
pieces hung in lobbys of some large buildings in the area. If I
remember correctly her husband is an architect.

I do have her name in my notes somewhere, but, I am still moving. I
have been renting temporarily and recently bought a place. It is being
refurbished. I have asthma so won't move in until the dusty work is
done. The notes are all packed away. However, the studio will be the
first thing unpacked - hopefully in a week or two.

Incidentally, I wonder if anyone out there has a suggestion on
homeowners insurance. The place I bought is a trailer on a permanent
foundation on a city lot (50' x 100') with a wonderful workroom
attached. This is standard construction for this area (Lake County,
California). It is in an unincorporated area. The community is so
small, they don't even have home mail delivery. You have to rent a PO
box. I am unable to find anyone who will insure it. One company said
they would, but not with a kiln on the premises. That's just not an option.

Jan C.

Hello Jan:

Have you tried a company called Foremost? I'm pretty
sure they operate in California. Their number is
1-800-527-3905. They operate mostly through agents,
so you would have to call that number and ask for an
agent closest to you. They are the largest insurer of
manufactured homes in the nation and probably the most
flexible.

Now, I'd be careful how you approach this issue
of kilns and pottery on your premises. If you truely are
a production potter and have employees and customers
coming on premises then you need to reveal that information
to the agent and perhaps have him or her add the business
interests endorsement to your policy. If you are like me,
a hobby potter, and sell or give your product to others
off premises, then you need not even mention the activity.

Some underwriters of insurance companies get all freaked
out about a kiln. If properly installed, it is no more dangerous
than your toaster or oven in your kitchen. Some wood stoves
are allowed to get hotter than most electric kilns. Most
underwriters just don't have any experience with kilns and
pottery studios, so, that which is unfamiliar or has no statistical
base, they avoid.

Good luck.

Diego


"Jan Clauson" wrote in message
link.net...
Yes, I am in CA - but have moved from Bay Area.

I honestly don't remember her name. The woman I am referring to has
pieces hung in lobbys of some large buildings in the area. If I
remember correctly her husband is an architect.

I do have her name in my notes somewhere, but, I am still moving. I
have been renting temporarily and recently bought a place. It is being
refurbished. I have asthma so won't move in until the dusty work is
done. The notes are all packed away. However, the studio will be the
first thing unpacked - hopefully in a week or two.

Incidentally, I wonder if anyone out there has a suggestion on
homeowners insurance. The place I bought is a trailer on a permanent
foundation on a city lot (50' x 100') with a wonderful workroom
attached. This is standard construction for this area (Lake County,
California). It is in an unincorporated area. The community is so
small, they don't even have home mail delivery. You have to rent a PO
box. I am unable to find anyone who will insure it. One company said
they would, but not with a kiln on the premises. That's just not an
option.

Jan C.

We got some special ins for the uninsurable for our buildings(
delapidated 200 year old house and barn studio). When my husband comes
home from doing music therapy with women prisoners (all victems of DV)
I'll ask him the name of the company NJ





v

Good suggestion about not mentioning the "hobby"pottery.

Texture, a many millennium old attraction for people experimenting with
clay. And wonderfully this posting could go on that long, everyone has
such great ideas!!

I use textures in the pit fired pieces I do and they run the gamut from
grabbing a pretty leaf to impressing tools I've made for the purpose.
But I wanted to mention the practice of someone who uses liquid rubber
to coat textures that she finds interesting and then uses the dried
flexible mold she gets from this process to impress a huge variety of
textures,especially from nature ( such as large collection of tree
barks) on her pots.

I've always been tickled when I go into a museum and see on an ancient
pot, lets say from Egypt, with the texture of the potters fingerprints
on it. I always leave a personal texture like this on my pots whether
the painted floral scraffito pieces or the pit fired ones. I'll either
leave it directly in the clay or in the slip or glaze or painting
process. The idea of some future existence of a sort of record of my
life here on earth tickles me too.
Nancy Jane





v

try looking on the Oriental Tading Co site they have thousands of things
maybe they'll have rubber stamps. I've seen them around once in a while
at younger friends homes. If I see some I'll let you know and maybe can
mail them Nancy Jane





v

Thank you, Diego. I will call them today.

Pottery is now a hobby for me, however, I did help set up and run a
pottery that was open to the public for a few years. The reason I have
been declaring the kiln is that there have been several reports of
claims being denied because there was a kiln on the premises. I have no
way of confirming these stories, but I thought it prudent to declare the
kiln. Don't want to have a fire and find out my insurance is invalid.
However, I am rethinking this position.

I do have a second option to put the kiln in a shed on the lot next
door, which I also own. However, there is no power to that lot and the
shed requires a lot of work. This would require a little more money
than I had intended to spend at this time.

I'll give Foremost a try, and If that bombs, on to the shed!

Thanks again,

Jan C.