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 another thin sheet of clay and then cut out an albatross shaped piece of clay.
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 then pressed shapes into the belly of the albatross for texture and to highlight the foreign nature of the plastic.
I decorated the shapes with commercial underglaze colour 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.
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 then painted this layer with black slip.
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 covered them with clingwrap so that they wouldn’t dry out any more and then I squished it all together with the 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.
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.
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.
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WOW Kim!! That’s AWESOME! WOW!!!!
Wow, that is amazing! 🙂
So sad, and yet, I can’t wait to see the finished product.
Kim it was great to see the process you go through – totally love the bowl!
Horrible that the subject of your inspiration is so awful but what a wonderful piece you have made. Looking forward to seeing it again after firing.
It’s a beautiful bowl and I can’t wait to see how it comes out of the firing. I love the idea of smacking it with a driftwood paddle to add texture. That’s something I would never think of.
I had no idea that percussive maintenance was a potting thing as well!
That was really interesting to watch, thank you. Will it look dramatically different when it’s fired?
must say, I’d have some reservations about eating off a dead bird bowl…
Love seeing the process you go through, especially the comment of your local clay from beside the road ! 🙂
Looking forward to seeing final result – @ martin I know this is a really serious issue but your comment, seriously made me laugh. Fascinating post – I remember doing pottery for a while at school but it took place in a very cold shed type place and me being completely appalling at it! Unlike your goodself Kim. I have faith it will go in exhibition.
I love these bowls. Very pretty. Thanks for stopping by my playground and leaving the comment about Jientje. She was a real trooper. I appreciate you taking the time to comment and stop by. And our friend had an adventure that I wouldn’t like to do in a foreign country LOL. 🙂
I clicked over to see Chris’ pictures of the baby albatrosses, and I was just so saddened. This is a terrible, terrible thing. I’m glad now that so many more people are becoming more aware of these type of tragic happenings, but there are still so many who just toss garbage willy-nilly, without a thought for the damage they’re causing. Out of sight, out of mind for them.
sorry about the birds. don’t birds have taste buds? can’t they tell they’re eating plastic?
yes, we are killing the planet.
Ever been to MacDonalds…?
You do amazing work. Your beautiful soul poured into each piece. I can’t wait to see them in the exhibit–well, via photo, anyway.
Kim, thank you so much for sharing your process. (I am also an impatient maker of things!) The bowl will be beautiful and a very powerful message. I love the contrast of the brilliant, but deadly, colours of the plastic bits inside the bird–with the muted quietness of its natural coat of feathers.
I’ve been on facebook too long, I just went to click ‘like’ I like them 🙂
That is brilliant!
You are so clever babe.
Wow! Great to see your process and I cannot get the bowl out of my mind-it’s fab! Like others, I hope you will share pics of it after the final firing. Thanks for sharing your creativity! -the nut in the desert, m.
How brilliant! Thanks for sharing the steps…it’s interesting to be privvy to an artist’s thoughts and feelings during the creative process.
Plastic Death of an Albatross, immortalized by a Coleridge with clay poetry
Good dedication to a bad issue!Our oceans and beaches need help..Our animals on this earth are suffering..