Testing connection types for the sculptures.

I did a number of experiments on the type of connections that I could make between the clay pieces as I was still experiencing cracks and movement. 

I tried connecting ovoids directly to each other without a joining piece, I used both paper vinegar slip and just water and slipping and scoring. I kept them moist with slow drying and others just air dried, I also connected using small clay pads rather than thrown hollow joining sections like I usually do. 

All the experiments where done with grogged white stoneware and the results where interesting, the piece that was just slipped and scored and then air dried slowly  fell apart before it reached the kiln, see pic above.

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The pieces connected with vinegar and paper clay slip stayed together but, despite spraying and slow drying separated at the back seams allowing cracks to develop (see above). 

The pieces joined using clay pads had more success, but I needed to be mindful not to leave any slip behind as this would enable surface cracks to develop between the seams which looked unsightly.

Below is a piece constructed using clay pads. I was really pleased with how this piece had turned out as I managed to get some lift and movement into it which offered potential for a whole range of new pieces. It was a useful experiment to do as it helped me to stop wasting time with joins that just were not going to work.

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Unfortunately the piece broke in half at the midpoint after bisque firing so perhaps the join was too weak? Sadly it ended up being used for glaze testing.

See below for the resulting glaze tests, the black crawl glaze (tested) was successful but hard to get it to adhere to the clay surface. The pink was a chrome and tin crawl glaze from Linda Bloomfield’s book on special effects glazes, it goes in the kiln green (see below) and comes out pink! (see below)

I continued to develop the forms connected with clay pads but orientated these ones vertically to create a different style of movement and shape. The seams in some joins were a little too thick after firing and some small surface cracks developed. This piece would have been a potential candidate for the show but sadly the glaze used did not crawl properly despite testing it and you can see were the cracks in the seams are, it’s not a technique I plan to abandon as it does work, just needs more  testing. See below pics.

Below, after firing with surface cracks at seams and crawl glaze that didn’t work.