test tw@se – June 1st, 2008
June 9, 2008
TW@SE marks another big change: it was my last week at the day job as a full-time employee. Believe me, it’s a lot easier to quit your job the second time around — particularly when it’s the same job! The first time, about two years ago, I was consumed with anxiety and hope and the crazy depth of the unknown that I was leaping into. This time it was nearly automatic, like falling off a log. No hesitation, no doubt.
OK, so technically I didn’t quit this time, at least not completely. I’m actually switching to part-time in the same job, which means I’ll work about 20 hours per week at the university, and add those 20-odd other hours to my time in the studio. That should be a substantial improvement to my workflow and output there, compared to what it’s been the last nine months (mostly weekends, holidays and the occasional evening). This new arrangement is the one remaining job/studio combination that I haven’t tried before; I’ve been FT as a potter and (obviously) a FT salaryman, but never 50/50. It could work out to be a good balance of time and money, so I’m really excited about the change.
Another part of this deal is that I’ll be teaching two ceramics classes in the Fall, and basically on leave from the web job during that semester. That’s exciting too, because it’s been a few years since I last taught, and I’ve never done the intermediate level class, let alone taught two classes at once. (I’ll be teaching adjunct for Meredith Brickell, the new ceramics faculty at DePauw.) Come to think of it, I’ve never done just teaching and studio either. The half-dozen times I taught ceramics in the past, I was also working the web job on alternate days and cramming studio time into wherever it would fit. Good grief — how’d I get any pots made? Anyways, I suspect I’ll have more to say about teaching in the coming months.
So back when I returned to the job in September, I wrote that I hoped it would allow me to save money for studio upgrades, refresh my tech skills, and maintain a baseline of productivity in the studio along the way. In retrospect, with that era now over, I’m happy to report that my plan worked out pretty well. I’ve got a new-soda-kiln-sized war chest in the bank, I now know a hell of a lot more about the acronym-laden stuff that happens on/to web servers, and — somehow — I made enough pots to put on two reasonably good studio sales. Not bad.
Porcelain teabowls
Very white…To start the new era with something noteworthy in the studio, I made some pots with the porcelain clay that I got last August (at long last!). It’s Turner’s Best Porcelain from Standard Ceramics, made from a recipe Tom Turner has developed over the years. I’m really excited about the possibilities with this clay — the results were very promising when I tested it back in December, and it seems to throw quite well. I’ve never used a true porcelain clay body for any length of time, so this is fun new territory to explore. After years of hearing about all porcelain’s quirks, as compared to stoneware, it should be interesting to see how different it is from the white stoneware clay I’ve been using the last few years. I’m wondering how I’ll need to adapt my process to accommodate it.
Switching clays meant cleaning up tools, bats and the splash pan of my treadle wheel, which I almost never do otherwise. (There’s no use contaminating that pure white clay with iron and stuff from the other body.) This made for an unplanned spring cleaning, which felt really good. A noticeable transition point, a phase change. There’s something strangely meditative about scraping off clay and cleaning the work surfaces back down to their original state. There was still actual wood underneath!
Naturally, I started with teabowls… good for testing the clay and for continuing to warm myself up, too. Trimming feet was really different. This clay is very fine grained and dense, and has zero grit or texture to it. Like carving into a block of some space-age, artificial substance. And so white it looks good enough to eat. I want to learn how to exploit what it can do, like the flawless softness of a compressed curve, or the extremely rigid line it can hold at an angle in the form or where it’s cut with a blade.
I also made a few dozen test tiles, because I’m planning to do a series of exploratory glaze tests, trying some of the recipes I’ve accumulated over the years in my glaze book. I’m thinking about a clear or white glaze, and a couple new options for celadons — maybe closer to a chun blue, or a smoother, satiny green. Those seem like the kind of things the solid white body should do well, especially if they are semi-transparent, to let light go through the glaze and bounce back off the clay. I can’t wait.
