≡ Menu

Neriage porcelain dragon eggs, a step by step process.

A few weeks ago I attended a weekend ceramic workshop with two ceramic artists from Finland, Nanna Bayer and Riitta Talonpoika. I had never heard of these artists before the workshop but once I had googled their work I knew that I would come away from the workshop with a lot to think about.

I have played about with Neriage or coloured clay before but I have never really thought about it seriously. I tend to work intuitively and let the clay or the idea lead me. Lately I have been spending an awful lot of time thinking about the dragon eggs and the different styles of eggs that I want to make. As I want some brightly coloured eggs as well as some fossilised rock like ones, I knew that neriage would be a technique that I would use.

Here is a step by step process showing how I made a swirly patterned porcelain egg.

Weigh out approximately 500 grams (1 lb) of clay and press a hole into the centre of the clay. Add 2 level teaspoons of coloured body stain. These weights and measures are only a rough guide as I wont know what worked and what didn’t until the piece is fired.

Then add a dribble of water to the powder to make a paste.

You will notice that I am wearing gloves, this is because a lot of the materials used in ceramics are toxic and can be absorbed through the skin. I have consumed enough toxins in the last twenty or so years to last me a lifetime and I don’t need any more.

You now need to wedge (knead) the clay until all the colour is mixed through thoroughly. I spent all morning making coloured blocks of clay yesterday. I used varying amounts of coloured stain for each different coloured block depending on its strength. I would highly recommend taking detailed notes so that you can alter the weights of the body stain if the coloured clay fires either too bright or not bright enough.

Also clean hands and cleaning your work space each time you finish making a coloured block of clay is really important. I have accidentally put a green thumbprint on the blue and red blocks, luckily it was easy to remove but this kind of carelessness can potentially ruin a mornings work.

I wanted a dark blue, sky blue and white egg to start with so I made a layered block of clay by putting slices together side by side. The pretty mauve colour will fire to an almost navy blue.

I banged the clay around a bit on the table to squish everything together. Then I sliced the block in half and started the process of carefully wedging the clay together.

I wanted a swirly pattern so I kept on wedging the clay until I was happy with the colour balance.

Once I was happy with the colour balance I put half the coloured block of clay aside for later and I cut the remaining block in half again.

I then put slices of plain porcelain with slices of the coloured porcelain together.

And started the process of mixing them together all over again.Once I was happy with the colour ratio of navy blue to sky blue to white I made two pinch pots.

Notice the scoring on the top of the pots, that is to help the pots join together. I slapped some slip onto the scored edges of the pinch pots and stuck them together and shaped them into an egg shape. I made a small hole with a needle on the base of the egg so that the air can escape when the egg is being fired. Otherwise the egg will explode.

Tadaa, the first experimental Neriage porcelain dragon egg. I say experimental because I don’t know if the porcelain will hold its shape when I fire it or not. These eggs are about the size of a goose egg at the moment and they will shrink down to smaller than that once they are glazed and fired. If the porcelain eggs dont work properly I will just use white stoneware clay.

I have made some similar sized eggs using CRT, a lovely robust stoneware clay that I use to make my platters. These eggs have a twofold purpose, first and foremost I will use them as test pieces to see how the porcelain fires, see what glazes work, that sort of thing. But their secondary purpose and the one that will give me the most pleasure, is that I want to be able to give these away to anyone who wants one as a memento of the open day next February 2011.

I also need to make a hammock to keep the eggs in so that they don’t get a flat spot as they are drying out. These are in a nest of old towels inside one of my slump moulds in the middle of the lounge room floor, which is okay as a temporary measure but it makes things a bit squishy inside the house. I want to have about fifty of these smaller eggs ready on the day so I best jump off the computer and get making.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Deb May 31, 2010, 10:16 am

    Thank you, that’s fascinating. I hope you post again after they are fired so we can see how they turn out. I would find it really hard to imagine how it will be, working with light purple instead of navy!

  • frogpondsrock May 31, 2010, 10:29 am

    I will post photos as soon as they are fired. The underglaze colour navy is also a light purple colour when it is unfired so I often forget and I am busily decorating something in all pastel colours and then I remember eeek, the pastel mauve is NAVY hehe good thing I dont often work in pastel colours.

  • Jayne May 31, 2010, 10:30 am

    Loved that post, thanks for that 🙂
    Those eggs look magnificent!

  • Brenda May 31, 2010, 10:45 am

    Wow! Who knew making porcelain eggs could be so much fun.=)

  • sharon May 31, 2010, 3:44 pm

    Can’t wait to see the fired pieces Kim. I’m sure they will be absolutely amazing. Please put me on the list for a ‘spare’ egg or two if you have enough to go around.

    We found an artist’s co-operative in Busselton last week when out with our visitors. Came away with a great ceramic platter and have plans to buy a glass piece next time we visit.

  • Watershedd May 31, 2010, 4:43 pm

    Hammock … what about old pantyhose and hang them from the rafters like christmas puddings? May give an imprint, especially if you use fishnets! Hehehe!

  • river May 31, 2010, 5:13 pm

    Interesting to see the process involved, Kim. Does that mauve really fire to a navy blue? I never would have thought that. I love the swirly patterns you created within the block.

  • Jientje May 31, 2010, 8:34 pm

    I love seeing how you work Kim, and I9 hope theycome out just exactly how you want them after they’re fired. I can imagine that can be surprising sometimes, no?

  • Achelois June 1, 2010, 10:40 am

    I really admire your patience, I am patient with people on the whole but not stuff like this at all. I am now impatient to see how the turn out. I too have difficulty imagining how the colour will change in the firing. This must be where your artists eye comes in. Thank you for taking the time and the trouble to post the process. It makes me want to do something all crafty! Not being particularly artistic makes that happen mostly in my imagination!

  • janet June 1, 2010, 9:41 pm

    Thanks, Kim. It’s fascinating to see how your creations begin. The dragon eggs will be treasures.

  • Mrs. Oh June 2, 2010, 4:06 am

    Too neat! And I loved seeing the process too.

  • plumtree June 4, 2010, 9:14 pm

    Wow! I love seeing the process.
    I love working with my hands.

  • plumtree June 4, 2010, 9:15 pm

    I meant to say more, but I’m getting tired and losing my thoughts. Sorry Kim.

  • Wordy January 30, 2011, 8:56 am

    Hello, Australia!

    I’ve been searching around this blog trying to find out how these neriage eggs turned out after firing, but haven’t been able to find the follow-up story. I want to see that mauve —> navy transformation for myself. Please point me in the right direction.

    Thanks you.