I have done a lot of coiling since I started working with clay, it’s one of my favourite hand building techniques, there is something meditative and mentally calming about the act of coiling, it’s definitely a making process that immerses me in the artistic flow. Coiling is a very versatile hand building technique, enabling the maker to create a multitude of shapes and forms from giant, human size onggi pots through to delicate porcelain thimbles. Many of the sculptural vessel like forms I have constructed have been made using coils, it’s easy to create curved, undulating shapes using coil building and there is something deeply satisfying about seeing a form slowly emerge as the walls and form of the pieces grow in your hands. 

Coiling can be done over a former, inside a slumped form or free hand straight onto a board, virtually any clay body can be used, but some require more delicate care and attention than others to avoid slumping and collapsing. I often coil more than one form at a time, to allow clay to dry and  ‘set up’ more firmly so the base can withstand the weight of further coils. 

In the piece below I decided to show the making process, and chose to leave the outside wall of coils unblended, it’s an opportunity to create some interesting surfaces when the glaze is applied as it will break over the coil ridges. 

I chose to use my own glazes that I had made but felt that these didn’t really work as well I had hoped on this piece and further experimentation is needed.

This was an interesting task and even as I did it, I already felt that my chosen artists would likely change and evolve. It’s really hard to choose 3 pieces of work, am interested in such a wide range of work by an array of artists. I am often drawn to the narrative and thoughtfulness of art work finding at times that I am more interested in the maker and their ideas than the material or aesthetic qualities of a piece. 

Building on what I learned during my explorations with texture, I was tasked with creating a set of tiles  where the texture I used would endeavour to portray different emotions. Unfortunately I hadn’t realised that I should have retained these particular tiles for firing and they ended up in reclaim, but below are some images of the completed tiles. Again made with the departments mixed stoneware clay body. I really enjoyed this exercise, it was really hard to avoid being too literal with my choice of textures and shapes, some of them were more successful tan others. I actually posted the tiles to my own pottery group on Facebook, as I was interested to hear about how other people saw them. The link to that page is here.