Both Charade and I were students at the recent Jean Nicolas Gerard workshop held at the Auckland Studio Potters. It was great to see such a fluid maker at work, to see the deft touch and simple gesture articulate his work. So, inspired and with a few workshop pots as guides, we both experimented with ways of incorporating some of what we saw into our own work. It was fun to try different approaches and see which ideas the kiln would treat well.

The darker of my clay mixes with the Karangahake flashing slip used a bit thicker and with more abandon was my starting point. A bit of sgraffito with different sticks, a bit of terra sigillata, a daub of glaze; all applied with a freedom born from inexperience. Some pieces undoubtably worked better than others and there were some pieces I’m still figuring out if I like, but there were some pots that a definitely on the right track and worth making more of…watch this space

The post Trying New Ideas appeared first on Rahu Road Pottery.

Another firing successfully completed with some interesting clay tests. It’s the testing of new ideas or technologies that are the pieces I linger over during unloading. This time three new clays from Primo were dotted throughout the kiln and a tweak of my standard clay mix.

I wanted to see how the clays flashed and reacted with the flashing slips. Also inside was a newish idea using water as a resist, splashing water on a piece then pouring a glaze that responds with colour variations due to thickness, kind of a randomising of the process.

We were lucky with the weather, somehow picking the one decent fine day of the week to fire. I’m noticing a slow creep in the wall above the throat arch, instigated by some excess clamming on the outside that I removed before this firing, but there was still about 4mm of creep towards the bag wall. The main consequence is an increase in drips on pots on the lower throat step. No effect on the firing of the kiln so far but does indicate that my H30 bricks are closer to end of life than I had hoped.

The post Firing with lots of tests appeared first on Rahu Road Pottery.

It’s been good to get back into the studio over the month of May, making a new batch of clay up and starting a list of pots to make for the June firing. Starting with the standard ware range – pasta and noodle bowls, mugs and beakers. Then  larger bowls and pouring bowls. Changing clays to the dark Rahu blend and another series of forms – tea caddies, jugs and tea bowls.

The kiln always needs some maintenance, some repair more than the usual clean and inspection. This time a bit of insulating adobe around the base of the chimney. Then it’s into glazing and working out the combinations of liner glaze and exterior or highlight glaze. This firing we’re trying a new Barium Blue glaze out on a few different pots to see how it looks, different methods of application and placement in the kiln will test how it reacts.

We pick a clear weather window to load and fire the kiln, it makes the job that much easier if we don’t have to dodge the showers. Firing close to the winter solstice is often the easiest as you can see the changing colour inside the kiln better and spot the chimney flame sooner. We stockpile wood close to the kiln before it gets dark which saves a job at the pointy end of the firing when we’re soda spraying and stoking.

The firing went smoothly in 12.5 hours and produced good results. Now comes the last jobs, sanding smooth the rough bases and picking out the seconds and the exhibition pieces, everything else is destined for one of our outlets.

To see more of Duncan’s work from this firing then head over to duncanshearer.co.nz

The post Mid-Winter firing appeared first on Rahu Road Pottery.

[See image gallery at rahuroadpottery.co.nz]

The post 12th Firing appeared first on Rahu Road Pottery.

Artist’s Statement

My work for this show has evolved from a question of our relationship to place, whenua (land); how do we honour and protect where we live?
The second biggest gold mining company in the world is investigating the land surrounding the area where I live. The destructive gold mining industry is a threat that our community has to live with. In the past it devastated the land, polluted the waters, killed the birds. But it stopped for a while so the bush is regenerating, the birds are returning and the creeks have fish in them again.
I live in the southern Coromandel range, which now needs time to recover and heal.

Charade Honey

[See image gallery at rahuroadpottery.co.nz]

The post Exhibition at The Vivian Gallery appeared first on Rahu Road Pottery.

For this exhibition both Charade and I are looking at ideas around containment. Charade has a body of work that she made for her Otago Polytechnic School of Art Post Graduate Certificate in Visual Arts course, which focuses on the concept of a box, one that carries concerns on its surface and bridges ideas linking family histories to contemporary identity issues. I’ve focussed on tea – making a series of tea caddies and tea bowls that explore volume, texture and clay. Since moving to the Rahu valley I’ve increasingly utilised clay from here to make and mark my pots, bedding them into the narrative of my journey here setting up a new pottery.

The post Exhibition at Front Room Gallery appeared first on Rahu Road Pottery.