Ceramic Update

I finally got my shot glasses back from their third and final firing.  Again they are a little smaller than I had hoped .  Some are more useable than others but I have enough for a collection.  I am really happy with the finish on the glaze with the final green added.  It gives the pieces individuality and makes then feel more organic. 

 
I am also really happy with the way the detailing from the rough print has came out in contrast to the smoother mold printed. 

 

Over the last few weeks I have been having problems with the goblets bending at the stem and touching other items in the kiln.  Although I gave a few of them a knock and they came apart they are imperfect and I plan to redesign the whole thing. 

   
  
The pint tumblers are working out great.  I have a perfect set of four now and a few more in the process of making.

  
 

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Ceramic Ware- Update

Today I got back my shot glasses from their first glaze firing.  I have painted them all  with the green glaze I bought and tested a few months ago.  I decided to paint them all different  to each other so that when they are being used people know which one is their glass.

I am still not having a lot of luck with the wine goblets.  The one that I tested last I left to dry before cleaning up to see if it holds together better.  When I came to clean it up I noticed it had a slight lean and a small crack at the bottom of the stem.  It is still in tact and I have put it in to bisque fire however I am not very hopeful and I plan to redesign the whole goblet and start again to make it stronger.

 

On the plus side I got back two more pint glasses which I glazed today.  I am very please with how these are working out and I will soon have a set.

 

Whisky glass pressing

Today I have been trying out the press mold for my whisky glasses.  The first few I did were a little floored but the more I made the better they became.  My 3D printed chizel was perfect for cutting off the excess clay from the top of the mold.  I was keen to see the effect of using molds printed on different machines.  The mold from the ultimaker gave a much smoother finish to the pieces.  I like the effect of the two contrasting textures.

 Close up showing both textures in the clay.
 Selection I have made so far.
Some of the vessels came out with areas that were not smooth.  I found placing the clay back into the molds and pressing them again sorted out this problem.

Mold before use.

Clay pressed into the mold.

Clay cut with 3D printed chisel.

To speed up the drying process I used my hair dryer.  This worked well for the clay but warped the outside of the orange mold slightly with the heat.  The inside seems to not have been effected which is good.

Clay smoothed down and drying  also showing warped mold.

Porcelain bowl glazing

This afternoon I glazed my porcelain olive bowls ready for their final firing. I used a white mat crack glaze on the outside of the pieces and varied colours on the interior.  I initially wanted some kind of metallic glaze for the inside of the bowls but realise this would mean I wouldn’t be able to use them for food.  I opted instead for orange, red, purple and turquoise interiors.

  
 The porcelain will be fired at 1260 degrees.  I’m looking forwards to seeing the final pieces.

Whisky Vessels

After spending a few weeks playing with porcelain and designing the ceramic bedroom light it has given me some ideas for making drinking vessels for my container.  I have been coming up with some designs in my sketchbook along the same lines as the base of the bedroom light I have designed.

Through these pieces I would really like to be able to show the mixture and contrast between the handmade and the use of CAD.  What I really enjoy about this with clay is the way in which clay is naturally so organic and malleable by hand.  It makes the process easy to both impress on and use CAD but also has a warm hand made finish or feeling.

The glasses will be pressed into CAD molds and hand finished on the inside.  I would really like to use a simple white cracked glaze on the outside and a more metallic glaze splash of colour on the inside.

Render of shot glass designs.

Last night I came home from work excitedly with plans to print a small shot glass and make them over the weekend.  As I went to bed last night I set my printer up to print the mold through the night.  I woke up at 4am to a strange buzzing noise.  As I got out of bed I found a big pile of white spaghetti in my printer.  The print was due to take 7 hours, so I collaborated the printer set up the print again and went back to bed.

 My overnight print fails.

The same thing happened at 8am and again at 10am.  I have cut down the mold size a little to make the build 5 hours and put on to build again.  Fingers crossed this one is going to work so I can make some shot glasses later.

Bedroom light

For one of my first projects I have been designing the light which will be in my bedroom in the shipping container. The designs for my bedroom are quite minimal with lots of hidden storage space. The light will be one of the few features within the room.

For many of my designs I was looking at quite organic forms. I have been interested in using ceramics within the piece. My designs eventually went full circle and I arrived back at my favourite technique of laser welding.

Out of the three final designs I came up with I am going to make the one with the closed top so that shadows will be projected around all of the room. I have also chosen to make the geodesic ceramic base as I feel this works better with my design than the plain version.

 

 Through some of my drawings I have been thinking about the power wires. Through discussion with my mentor I have came to the conclusion some kind of self charging light would be good so that no cables would be necessary, also adding to the aesthetics of the piece.

Porcelain bowls

I have got my bowls back from the bisque firing. Some of them are looking good.  Two are a little wonky due to both using the clay too thinly as well as the mold being made from plastic not plaster.  I am going to Glaze them on Monday so I hope they work out in the next firing.

Porcelain Project

Hi Folks, this is my first blog post for what I hope to become a place I can document, share and record my ideas over the next few years, whilst researching my PhD.

I plan to spend the next few years building my own house and workshop and contents through 3D printing all the tools I will need.

This week I have started thinking about bedroom lighting and ceramic items.  I 3D printed some press molds last week from my home 3D printer.  I was restricted by the scale I could print from my M3D as it has such a small build plate size

One of the trickiest things about using the a press mold direct from the printer in plastic is it’s lack of porosity.  Plaster molds will soak up some moisture from the clay allowing for some drying and making it easier to remove.  The final results were a little wonky due to this.

I was thinking about smoothing off the press before using it.  However I wanted to see what the effect of print lines would have to the texture of the porcelin.  I was quite happy with the finished texture.  I’m looking forwards to getting them fired and glazed.