albatrosses dying.plastic rubbish

Fired up

by frogpondsrock on November 11, 2011

in ceramics,plastic pollution,potential insanity

An alternate title could be, “Killer Cigarette Lighters Used in Artwork” or “Nothing is Disposable Really”

But I will stick with “Fired Up” because it is the title of the show.

I have been asked to participate in a group ceramic show in the north west of the state in early March next year, the title of this show is “Fired Up.” The Curator has asked us to produce, up to ten pieces of work that will demonstrate what gets us fired up, what we are passionate about.

I have known about this show for quite some time now but I have been deliberately only skirting the edges of the idea, as I had four exhibitions all falling in the latter part of 2012 as well as a wedding (15 days people) to occupy my thoughts.

The last time I dived headfirst into something I swam alone with my memories for weeks. I obsessed, I picked mental scabs, I cried a lot and you my dear internets were subjected to an awful lot of posts on the subject.

I think that is why I have been holding back from fully committing with my heart as well as my head to the Fired Up project, as I am a little bit frightened of where the obsessions will lead me this time.

Today I formally begin the process of really thinking about the work I will make for “Fired Up”and I have yet to tell my husband. “The Spouse” also suffers when I am in the throes of an obsession, as I am emotionally absent when I start to swim with the creative sharks and I am only half focused on the real world. It isn’t until the work is done that I start to come back to myself and realise how hard I have been to live with. My minimalistic approach to housework flies out the door and I make more mess than usual in the house. This time though I will try and be tidier and not leave piles of things everywhere.

These cigarette lighters came out of the stomachs of Laysan Albatross Chicks on Kure Atoll, Hawaii in June 2009. The Laysan Albatross Chicks died just before they were ready to make their first flight out to sea.

I am not sure what I am going to be making yet but these lighters will feature prominently.

Thoughts about disposable lifestyles, disposable people, how our laziness is killing us, all these things are in my head but nothing is concrete yet. I am still at the stage where I am tossing around ideas to do with ceramic lighters, dead albatross bowls, ceramic balls similar to the dragon eggs bound together with brightly coloured rope.

I dont know yet.

But.

Today I have started and I have some serious work ahead of me. I only wish I could afford a cleaner.

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How to make a dead albatross bowl.

by frogpondsrock on November 4, 2009

in ceramics,Dead Albatross bowls,environmental stuff,fauna and flora,On my soapbox

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Chris Jordan’s albatross photographs. I sent an email off to him asking for permission to reproduce one of his images here but I haven’t received a reply so if you click on his name you will go straight to the images of the dead albatross chicks.

I planned to take photos of all the steps involved in making the bowl. Once I started to work I got so caught up with the making that I kept on forgetting to take the shots. I would glance up in the middle of adding something to the bowl and see the camera and think,”shit I forgot the photos” and quickly snap away.

I rolled out some clay. It is exactly the same as rolling out pastry except if you nibble bits of the edges it tastes like mud.

I rolled out some clay until it was quite thin.

I rolled out another thin sheet of clay and then cut out an albatross shaped piece of clay.

I then added an albatross shaped piece of clay. I had totally forgotten about taking photos at this stage.

I then started to paint the albatross with black and white slip. Slip is liquid clay. You can buy slip from the clay shop. I make my own slip from white clay and add body stains to make all the colours except black. To make black slip I make up a black oxide mix which is 3% black iron oxide, 2% manganese,2% cobalt oxide and 2% nickel oxide. I then add a couple of teaspoons of this mix to half a cup or so of slip. It should fire to a lovely dark charcoal colour (fingers crossed).

I started to colour in the albatross with slip.

I then pressed shapes into the belly of the albatross for texture and to highlight the foreign nature of the plastic.

I then pressed some circles and lines into the albatrosses belly, to represent the plastic.

I decorated the shapes with commercial underglaze colour as well as coloured slip.

I decorated some more using underglaze colours as well as coloured slip.

I now carefully picked it up and plonked it on top of a hump mould and hoped like hell that it wouldn’t rip too much, as the clay was really thin.

I then picked up the clay and put it on the hump mould. Hoping that it wouldn't rip too much.

Now I needed to add another layer of clay to make the pot a bit thicker. So I rolled out some more clay, painted it with some slip so that it would stick and then added it to the bowl. I squashed the new layer of clay down with a rolling pin and then smacked it with a piece of driftwood planking until I was happy with the shape and the texture.

I rolled out another sheet of clay and put it on to thicken up the bowl. then I bashed it with a piece of driftwood.

I then painted this layer with black slip.

I painted this layer with black slip.You can see the marks left by the driftwood.

I still had the pieces of clay leftover from when I had cut out the albatross shape. So I painted them with a slip I had made from local clay gathered from the side of the road, it fires to orange. So I stuck them onto the bowl as well.

I put the leftover clay pieces from the albatross on the bowl as well.

I covered them with clingwrap so that they wouldn’t dry out any more and then I squished it all together with the rolling pin.

I covered the clay with cling wrap and and squished everything together with a rolling pin.

Once I was happy that everything was all squished together. I took off the clingwrap and gave it a bit of a bash with the driftwood paddle.

This is the end result of the bottom of the pot.

I left it on the mould until it had dried out to not quite leather hard. I am an impatient potter and all the time I had been making the bowl, I didn’t have a clue how the albatross inside the bowl had fared.I didn’t know if it had ripped or distorted and I was itching to find out. So as soon as the bowl could be flipped off the mould and still retain a bowl like shape, I turned it over.

And here is the dead albatross.

this is what the albatross ended up looking like.

It took me all morning to make one bowl and the whole process from start to finish was very satisfying. I don’t feel quite so helpless in the face of the enormity of the tragedy of the albatrosses. I have since made another albatoss bowl and I am hoping like mad that I will be happy enough with them to put them in the exhibition.

* edited:- You can see photos of the fired bowl here.

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