Searching for Atlantis

Waiting on the first glaze firing.

Making my sculpted sea pieces is a fairly long process. Searching for Atlantis is a rather tall "bowl" of sorts...it's not functional, definitely decorative.

I start by rolling out the clay, then tearing it into strips. Usually I shoot for a triangular shape if I'm making a bowl shape.

Each of the "flukes" (not sure that's an accurate term, but it's what I call them) is torn, textured, then rolled to form the funnel.

The "bubbles" are each individually hand-formed. Sometimes they take forever! Good music playing in the background makes the time zip by...

I usually use a form to semi-hold the bottom shape as I begin. Sometimes I just use clay to prop the pieces up for a bit. After I've been working for a while the clay holds up by itself to some degree.

I have gotten ahead of myself before and had the piece collapse! Not fun.

Atop the kiln, after first glaze firing.

The inside of my creations is just as important at the exterior. Even if I'm not making a sculpted piece I try to make sure the inside is interesting.

With these sea pieces the interior is often more important than the exterior. I want the eye to travel into the piece. I want to mimic the idea of looking down into the sea. Thus I leave spaces where you can look into the bowl from the sides.

When I've finished forming the bowl I start placing my bubbles. Again my goal is to leave the viewer thinking about the ocean, the sea. The bubbles need to float upward. It's not possible (without using wire or other mechanisms) to have the bubbles truly float, so I attach them on the sides of the walls in various positions, hopefully giving the idea of motion.

Side view after first glaze firing.

I want the piece to undulate like the water is moving it, hence the wavy motion of the flukes & sides. Sometimes I'll add extruded strings to further give the impression of movement.

After I complete the piece I let it dry for a week or so. Then it is bisque fired. The bisque firing takes roughly 12 hours. The kiln then has to sit for about three times that long to cool. I'm sometimes a bit impatient and can't wait... that doesn't matter much with the bisque firing as long as I don't open too soon. Open a glaze load too fast and the cold air can crack the glaze or even crack the entire pot.

After I finally unload the kiln, I rinse the bisque fired pieces, let them dry thoroughly, then begin the glaze firing process.

I glaze fire each of my sea pieces multiple times.

Searching for Atlantis has at least 10 - 12 shades of layered blues, greens, turquoise glazes. I fired the piece, then did it all again adding some glass on the second go-around, popping certain colors that I wanted to be predominate. As you can see in the various stages, the red color of the clay shines through. I wasn't quite satisfied so I did it again.

Below is the finished piece. You can still see some of the clay tones but the turquoise tones and the glass are stronger. The interior has even more glass to give the appearance of water.

I named the piece Searching for Atlantis as it something that people have dreamed about, believed in (or not), searched for and sung about. It's a place of mystery and, if legends are true, beauty. I truly hope you'll think that Searching for Atlantis is worthy of the name.

Though Gods they were
And as the elders of our time
   choose to remain blind
Let us rejoice and let us sing
And dance and ring in the new
Hail Atlantis
Way down below the ocean
where I wanna be, she may be

- Atlantis Lyrics, Donovan

Experimenting with glass

I've been incorporating glass in some of my ceramic pieces for a while. I add various types of glass to the glaze or place atop the glaze prior to firing. Most of the time I've been pleased with the way they turned out. Each time I've learned a bit more about the process.

Pieces in the kiln, glazed but not fired.

I've always loved stained glass. A friend of mine does stained glass and offered to teach me. I jumped at the opportunity (albeit slowly, it took me about six months to set aside the time!). I made a couple of small pieces and was OK with them, but not thrilled. She said I'm a natural, picked things up quickly, and all that good stuff. It wasn't the process I wasn't thrilled with, it was the design of the pieces I made that didn't excite me.

My intention was and is to do a line of ceramic pieces that have spaces or voids I can fill with stained glass.

The new "glass corner" in the studio. Picked up the glass holder under
the table at a thrift store for only $10... it was meant to be mine!

I decided to go for it in my usual manner... I bought all the stuff to do stained glass, cleared out a corner of my studio and got started making ceramic pieces to marry up with stained glass.

After being fired, waiting for glass to be added

I wrote a bit about the difference in the processes recently --- stained glass is almost instant gratification, ceramic art takes weeks. I mentioned that to my stained glass friend, Cathy, and she showed me a piece that she had already spent roughly 30 hours on and it wasn't soldered yet... However long the time, she still doesn't need to stare at wet pieces and wait for them to dry not knowing the outcome!

Anywaze, back to my travels in stained glass and clay.

The piece I took to Cathy's for a refresher. Note the larger soldering
lines where the glass meets the clay.

I made a bunch of pieces and they're sitting on a table awaiting the glass. I got nervous about the process for some reason. I kept starting, then finding a reason to go back to what I knew and was comfortable with --- my clay.

The piece I made on my own when I got home. Much happier.

Finally I kicked myself in the rear, talked with Cathy, grabbed a few pieces and went for a refresher. We both experimented as she had not tried marrying up a ceramic piece to glass either. I learned what I will be doing in the future and what I probably won't be doing. I didn't like the big soldering lines where the clay met up with the glass. Nice little lines between the glass pieces, chunky lines where the glass meets the clay. 

I brought the piece home and played a bit more with it. I decided to make another small piece of stained glass to add (the pink triangle on the left in the photo above) and to add some aqua beads to pick up the aqua on the right side. I haven't attached the aqua beads yet, still playing with the layout. I also made a small clear glass triangle to use in the cord or chain that will go through the hole at the top so it will dangle.

The piece to the right is one I made on my own in the studio. I'm much happier with it! I am now ready to tackle all the rest of those pieces laying on the table! In a few days I'll be making a trek to the not-so-local glass store (45 minute drive, one way) to pick up some more glass. I'm hooked.