I feel there is one piece that I have made that was doomed for the start, but they do say that our greatest learning comes from our struggles, which in this case is true.
This piece was made back in the early months of practice 3 but I had left it unglazed until I had formulated a better version of my glaze. It represented the keel of a boat so the form was a slanted cube. The date when a keel is laid, dates a boat so I applied Morse Code at the build stage of a particular ship crafted in Barrow with the important date stamp. After firing I discovered that my source material was incorrect in terms of the year when the keel was laid, gutted.
Once my recipes had been finetuned I glazed the piece. Having had a chat with a ceramicist at Ceramic Wales who advised me to layer the lava glaze with another glaze, I decided to try it out. I must have got confused which glaze I was applying as I applied a lava glaze to the smooth surface rather than the textured areas. The plan was to add transfers relating to the ship in question, to the smooth surface so that is out of the window now. See picture above.
So to say I was shocked when it came out of the kiln is an understatement! Ironically the two issues I have been having with my glazes seem to have been addressed. The lava glaze looks as if it has been on steroids and the blues have made an appearance in my slate glaze. Double whammy in a good way, pity the glazes are in the wrong place on the piece. At least now I know that the trick with lava glazes is to layer them up, hence more testing this week on what layers work best. TEST TEST TEST!!!
Using a metal object I scrapped the top layer of the lave glaze to reveal a complex network of connections underneath. After careful consideration I decided that I preferred this finish than what had initially occurred. So depending on the reaction of the lava glaze, may lead to further action being taken on the piece. See picture below.
I submitted this piece to The Lake Artists Society Annual Exhibition where I was notified that I had been successful in my submission and that the piece had been selected as part of the Cumbrian wide open call to exhibitors. A few days later I was notified that this piece titled "Belonging" had won the Ophelia Gordon Bell Award 2022 for excellence and innovation in sculpture.
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