The evolution of methodology...
At the beginning of my project, I had been sculpting pieces of glaze in rectangles by hand, their shape was inconsistent in each piece. The reason I made them into rectangles is the angled shape reminds me of the element of architecture. However, there were no specific meanings for the design. On the other hand, I have always fired the glaze pieces independently, the pieces of glaze have always melted into a pool that I can't stack them up easily, also it has been very difficult to transfer them stably to the kiln.
In semester 2, I started to think of other methods to make the glaze pieces systematically.
I had made some plaster blocks, they are made to be cast in a plaster mould. The moulds will be used for slip-casting glaze pieces, aiming to be more efficient in making glaze pieces and refer to the brick-making process. I have been making them in straight walls. I have realised the disadvantage is I have to make a three-part mould for them, which is too complicated and inefficient if I want to make lots of moulds.
Now, my final version of the method of making glaze pieces is making one-part plaster mould and slip-cast my glaze. The shape refers to the standard size of bricks in the UK- 65 X 102.5 X 215 MM, which gives a ratio of 3:2:1. Then I came up to this size: 16.25 X 25.625 X 53.75 MM. In making the bricks in this small rectangle shape, I can stack them in many different designs, I can make lots of glaze bricks, and very stable when transferring them to the kiln.
In the start...
Then...
Now...
LET'S DO SOME MATERIAL TEST!
Simple Changes of Silica and Kaolin in glaze recipes
Here I want to find out my favourite and the most workable gloop glaze.
How can I find it?
I have chosen two glazes to change the amounts of Silica and Kaolin in them. I have added 10% in every step. This is to see how an increased amount of Silica and Kaolin can change the behaviour of the glaze.
These tests are fired to 1260 C. All my vertical test tiles have been applied the glaze quite thickly.
Surprisingly, O1 when dipped on the vertical test tile has a bit of crazing and glossy; while rolling it into a ball on the flat test tile it is true smooth matt!
For the orange one, I like T4 when added 40% silica it becomes matt and bubbly.
Discoveries:
Regarding O5, I guess it is underfired. Or it is a true Matt gloop glaze? I will find out when I do the 'hanging' versions of these tests.
The bubbling in T3 and T4 is probably because the glaze has become more 'stiff' - higher viscosity, and then gasses from the colours (or any iron impurities from the clay) leave bubbles that are not melted out again because of the increased viscosity of the glaze. The high viscosity is also what makes it possible to do the gloops that I am looking for.
'Hanging' Versions of O1-T4
I like O4 and T4 the most as I think they can be a nice gloop glaze with a matt surface.
NEXT...
Finding Lava and Bubble Glazes
Here I want to find a lovely bubble glaze to work with. I want to use the previous O1-T4 glazes to test them out.
How?
I will add 2% of Silicon Carbide to each of the tests. Silicon Carbide is a raw material that can release gasses from the glaze during firing, and so will create bubbles in the glaze.
Discoveries:
The high viscous glazes have the most ideal bubble effect that I like. I especially like T4, the bubble surface is rocky, sturdy and unbreakable. It has also kept the form. I hate T1 as it is completely swollen up and spoiled others!
Having the glaze tested in different positions is very important. A version of dipping the glaze on the vertical test tiles and another one rolling glaze balls on the flat test tiles, the glazes behave completely differently.
O1-O5 are great in lay-down versions, but not in the dipping version.
MORE VISCOSITY TEST
LEFT: CS5:Clear Stoneware studio glazes +50% Kaolin. CS3: Clear Stoneware studio glazes +30% Kaolin.
RIGHT: T11 and T12 are added 20% and 40% Silica. O11 and O12 are added 20% and 40% Kaolin.
TWEAKING TENMOKU GLAZE
I have been tweaking the recipe of Black Tenmoku Stoneware glaze from the University studio. In the left test tile, I have added 20%- 50% Kaolin in them. I like BT2( top one) the most, it has a metallic rustic surface texture. In the right test tile, I have added 20%- 40% Silica in them. I like the colour of red iron oxide when added to 8-10%, I think I will use the range of gradient colours of red iron oxide, and further develop this Tenmoku glaze.
CLOSE UPS OF BT2
DEVELOPING COLOUR (OXIDES)
I have chosen O4 from the previous test as the base glaze to work with the colourants. The reason why is I think it is a nice workable gloop glaze, that I would use in the future. It can hold its shape while flowing a bit, not too much and not too less.
I wanted to test whether adding oxides will flux the gloop glaze, to see if I can work with oxides as a successful colourant to my work. Through this series of oxide line blends, I also want to find my favourite workable oxide, giving myself options.
The colourants I am testing in this section: Copper Carbonate, Copper Oxide, Cobalt Carbonate, Cobalt Oxide, Chromium Oxide, Red Iron Oxide, Yellow Iron Oxide, Black Iron Oxide, Manganese Oxide, Rutile, Vanadium Pentoxide, Black Nickel Oxide, Ilmenite.
Method used: Line Blends. Additions of each oxide into the O4 base glaze from 0.33 % to 4 - 10 %.
The reason I used a syringe to apply the glaze is because I could add volume to the glaze and test how it holds its shape, imitating the gloop shape.
RESULTS
The line blends show perfectly the gradient of each oxide. All of the glaze drops have held up their shapes after firing, therefore this O4 base glaze is successful with additions of oxides to create stiff and sturdy individual glaze pieces.
Next, I will do further colour development.
MORE COLOURS... (OXIDES)
FAILED GLAZE TEST
In this set of tests, I fire the glaze pieces on some angled batt-washed blocks, to test whether the glaze pieces can stay in the angled shape and be taken out. The result shows they can't. Except for the white one, it can be taken out and has a curved surface as it slumped on the plate.
TESTING, TESTING, TESTING...FLUX LINE BLENDS
Flux Line Blends- Slip-casting some rectangle-shaped pieces of clay + Alkaline frits to do the slump test.
Each piece has a different percentage of Alkaline frits from 0%- 60%.
I hope to see how the piece of solid clay melts by adding frits to the body.
RESULT OF ALKALINE FRITS SLUMP TEST
From left to right: +0% frits, +10% frits, +30% frits, +40% frits, +60% frits.
The piece that added 60% Alkaline frits has become translucent and has a bubbly glassy surface. I like that it is like a piece of frozen molten ice.
NEXT... I could add less frit in each piece to explore more blends in between, maybe a less dramatic jump in between number 2 and 3.
After this test, I will name them 'Claze'. It is a portmanteau of 'Clay' and 'Glaze'. This set of claze line blends has been merging from clay to glaze or almost glass. This metaphorically refers to my identity, slowly merging my two identities.
A piece of porcelain + lava glaze. Shaped by hand.
Will be fired to 1222 C and see how will it expand in the kiln.
It bubbled quite a lot because the layers of lava glaze were added quite a lot.
From left to right: Rutile, Red Iron Oxide, ...
These balls are fired on batt-washed plates, to test the viscosity of each recipe + oxides.
BUTTONS??
SKETCHES & COLLAGES
I decided to paint the colours and patterns that I would like to use in my ceramic piece in watercolour on paper. Then I cut the rectangles out from them and made some collages. The rectangles are true to the size of the bricks I designed for my piece in real life. In this way, I can easily have some clean edges rectangles to get a good perspective on how pieces might fit together, as well as for the overall thematic considerations and the visual language of the piece.
TECHNICAL DRAWINGS
BRICKS MOULD
Nowadays most bricks in the UK are made to a standard size of 65 X 102.5 X 215 MM, which gives a ratio of 3:2:1. I referred to the ratio of the brick's size and came up to this size to make my glaze pieces: 16.25 X 25.625 X 53.75 MM.
I was thinking about how to produce my glaze pieces more efficiently, at the same time also having an accurate size of each brick, referring to the sequentially architecture design. I came up with making blocks of bricks in clay and making moulds from them. Turns out I have made five of them at the same time.
But what if I want to make 40 moulds to slip-cast all the glaze in one go? I will have to make some mass-production models of the bricks to replicate the shape of the same brick so I can mass-produce the moulds from them constantly.
BRICK CLAZE MAKING
Pour the claze into the moulds... I tried to remember the order from 01-05 claze, so when I stack the pieces I would know which to stack in the bottom or top... Next time I have to mark the number on the moulds to have a system to prevent mistakes.
TOP: Kaolin Slips + 10- 50 % Fritte 3124
BOTTOM: Kaolin Slips + 10 - 50 % Alkaline Frits
Kaolin Slips + 0 - 50 % Alkaline Frits, + 1 - 10% Red Iron Oxides.
'STACKED BRICK TOWER' TEST PIECES BEFORE AND AFTER
This stacked brick tower consists of bricks that have added Alkaline Frits and Red Iron Oxides. They are fired to 1260 C, with 15 minutes soak. The result showed it collapsed quite dramatically. It looks like the bricks fell and melted together, but amazingly I could still see the line blend from the clay to a very glassy glaze, the lines haven't been mixed very much. I am also delighted with the metallic surface texture of the brick-red ones. And I came in realisation that they look like the Fletton/ London bricks because of the slip-casting method.
Kaolin Slips + 10 - 50 % Alkaline Frits
Kaolin Slips + 10- 50 % Fritte 3124
PROTOTYPE- PLAYING WITH JANGA
I have found a Janga game which is a 'Rustic Series Edition' on Amazon, I bought it and thought the colour palette of it matches my project theme.
I start to stack the blocks in different patterns to find the design for my brick construction.
I have been imagining the light blocks as 04 glaze and the darkest as 01, if I place the 04 blocks more, will the construction collapse more? What if I place the blocks in different directions? Can I have a systematic and designed fall? I think I can control the force even though they might seem uncontrollable visually.
REFINEMENT 1
I will scale up my brick vessel, and be more systematic in planning and designing my piece to a more resolved stage.
Below are the recipes of the 01-06 claze. I have designed the vessel stack and labelled the claze numbers for each layer.
I have referenced the 'Hit and Miss' brickwork pattern as the design of my stack. In this way, the bricks only touch a corner of each other and have a space in between each brick to collapse/melt.
Designing more variations of stacking positions of claze.
I have labelled numbers 01-06 on the moulds to identify each claze piece easily.
40 pieces of claze ready to be stacked...
I have taken some shots of the vessel sitting in the kiln, aiming to see how it melts and collapses before and after firing. Then I stack the bricks again in the saggar box ready to fire.
FURTHER REFINEMENT 2
The first refined piece has shown the visual appearance I want for my final pieces. Now for further refinement, I have some changes to make.
I will remove the bottom two layers- 05 and 06 glazes. I found the colours are not very related to the brick red of red iron oxide of the top layers. I want brick red as the only colour in my final pieces, in a not-so-obvious gradient. Another reason for removing 05 and 06 is that they have totally lost their brick shapes after firing, which I question- Are they essential to keep in my pieces?
This question has also brought me to rethink my initial design which looks like melting on the edge. Does that relate to my project concept? The answer is yes it kind of. But looking at the test piece, I think I don't want this feature to be the focal point anymore.
I have to design and test some pieces without 05 and 06 to see if that's closer to what I aim for.
SOAK TIMES & TEMPERATURES: I will test the pieces with different soak times from 0-15 minutes, and fire them to 1255 C, 5 C less than last time. Will the results have significant differences? And can I present three vessels with different soak times in the final presentation?
'According to British Standard Code of Practice BS 5628-3, bricks should be laid frog upward and filled with mortar to maximise strength, stability and general performance of the brickwork.'
I have decided to mimic the standard method of bricklaying, so I have laid my bricks frog upward in my refinement pieces.
Reference: https://www.manchesterbrick.com/tips-and-advice/laying-bricks-frog-up-or-down/
HOW TO LAY BRICKS TO A LINE [Bricklaying for beginners e.p7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I86fPLIXiM
Below is BEFORE AND AFTER the brick vessel stacked and fired in the saggar box. I have stacked 10 layers in this one, 6 bricks in each layer. Fired to 1255 C, 0 minute soak time. After firing it has shrunk to half of the height before firing.
Below is the piece fired to 1255 C, 0 minute soak time. I like the overall colour tone and the flow of the claze, the claze has kept its shape mostly. I want to refire this to 1260 C soak for 15 minutes to see what will happen. That would be very interesting to see the contrast between the two versions of the same stack with an extreme difference in temperature.
Below is the piece fired to 1260 C, 15 minutes soak. Claze No. 03, 04 and BT2 have grown more and flowed more, while claze No. 01 and 02's quality didn't have much changes.
Overall I like the visual appearance of 1255 C 0 minutes more because the flow between claze 01-04 does not have a big difference, I can see the line blends between 01-04 significantly. While 1260 C15 minutes has made the piece ooze more. Although I don't really like the latter, I think it will still give an interesting contrast when placed with the other stacks. Therefore I will consider making three pieces with the same stack but different soak times.
Below is another piece that I have added BT2 (from the past recipes) in the bottom layer. Stacked in sequence from top layers 04-01, each layer has 4 bricks. Fired to 1255 C, 5 minutes soak time.
FURTHER REFINEMENT 3
After refinements 1 and 2, I realised I needed to refine all the brick's edges- the bed, the frog, the stretcher and the header- super smooth and flat. This is to make the stacking process successful without being wobbly and uneven. Also, the fired pieces of bricks would show a refined-looking surface, which is an important step towards a resolved piece.
I have also labelled the numbers from 1-4 claze on the wood board to identify each of them easily.
I have fired the piece to 1255 C, 0 minute soak time. This time I have stacked 13 layers and each layers have 6 pieces of bricks. The fired result has shown that the piece collapsed and touched the box's wall, even though I can sand the batt-washed part away, I am not sure I want to leave a part of my piece flat. The flat surface has evidenced the oozing claze has been stopped by the saggar box, which is not the most ideal state. On the other hand, I think overall the piece looks a bit off and boring because it is very one-tone, I think it would look better if I add the BT2 claze back into the layers in my next refinement.
SAGGAR BOX DESIGN
I have designed an open door for the saggar box. After I made the cone-shaped saggar box, I cut a part of the wall out. This benefits me to move the saggar box into the kiln first, then stack the brick claze in the saggar box, and lastly close the saggar box door ready to fire. The design allows me not to transfer the saggar box while having the claze construction inside to have the chance to collapse.
THINKING OF MY PROJECT TITLE- IRRESISTIBLE FORCE
I have been considering the project name 'Irresistible Force'. I have been using claze bricks to stack up constructions, and then fire them in the kiln. This action has melted my piece and made it collapse and deconstruct after firing in the kiln. This invisible force metaphorically linked to the government's policies over Hong Kong people, and invited people to move to the UK. I also like the Irresistible force paradox, which invites people to think about the idea of unstoppable forces and immovable objects. For me, the unstoppable force is like the demolition event, and the bricks of the brick building are the immovable object.
FINAL PROJECT TITLE- 'IN-BETWEEN'
I found it very difficult to name my project. The reason I go with 'In-Between' is because my three final pieces will have a slight difference between each of them; I was finding the state of the material in between clay and glaze; I was finding my identity state in between east and west.
REFINEMENT 4
DESIGNS for the bricks tower- I have been thinking and designing the claze positions in the tower. Consider where to place the different claze to achieve the desired falling direction. This is the most difficult consideration as this will affect the overall aesthetic of my piece. I don't want the piece to melt too much and touch the saggar box's inner wall.
The final decision for the pieces: I will make three brick towers as my final pieces. I will use the same stacking design as below throughout the three pieces. Each tower will contain a total of 90 pieces of bricks, 15 layers, each layer of 6 pieces. All towers will fire to the same temperature and soak times,1255 C, 0 minutes. I am curious to see the slight difference between the three towers, even though they are designed to be the same. That's the nature of the relationship between material and heat.
I have 20 plaster moulds in total. Now I will have to make 270 pieces of bricks more...
There's only a photo of it being fired in the box... It is looking perfect...
I photographed the piece sitting in the kiln where it was originally fired. I think the spot light in the workshop has lit the shiny bits of the piece perfectly.
REFINEMENT 5
I have used diamond tools to sand the piece's bottom surface and the batt-wash which has stuck on the piece.
REFINEMENT 6
Same stacks as the previous 4 and 5. Photos below have shown the before-firing and after-firing. The piece has touched the interior of the saggar box so I have to use diamond tools to sand off the batt-wash. The surface touched on the wall is not much, I think it does not matter too much of the overall aesthetic so I will keep it.
CURATORIAL CONSIDERATIONS
For the degree show, I am considering a white/ yellow/ grey/ black plinth to go with my pieces. Possibly the plinth could brighten up my pieces. One of the features of my pieces is the metallic surface on some of the bricks, I wish the plinth could highlight this feature. On the other hand, my project concept is inspired by the city landscape, so yellow might give a hint to the audience about my project background. After several trials on colour matching, grey is not very suitable as it made my piece look dull. I like black the best, darker background can highlight the lighter area of my piece.
I have tried to photograph the piece in a bright yellow background, with day lights.
There are advantages and disadvantages. First of all I like how the piece look almost digital- like Mid-journey images. However, I think the yellow colour has changed a bit of the piece's original colour. Should I just use yellow plinth for the show but not use yellow background for the photographs?
'IN-BETWEEN' SERIES, BRICK VESSELS X3.
