17.08.07-throwing the torus

Last week was spent writing about the making process and throwing some torus forms based on the model I had designed on Rhino. Like all attempts to develop new work there is a need to adapt skills and improve techniques. I was keen to reproduce the Rhino design as accurately as possible, the first attempts [torus 01-08] were thrown the ‘right way up’, but I found it was very difficult to create a shallow, open bowl form. Throwing the form ‘upside down’ meant that I had gravity assisting me, particularly useful in forming the outside wall. Much more control was possible and the resulting toruses [09 and 10] are quite pleasing. However, the cross section is not an accurate reproduction of the Rhino design. I am looking forward to producing the Rhino model by CNC milling, to be used as a mould for slipcasting or pressmoulding the piece. It will be interesting to compare the results of the two methods. Which will prove to be the most successful, what are the criteria I will use to make a comparison?

The torus has been chosen because it is a one-sided surface; it doesn’t have a separate interior and exterior, but can be produced to challenge the habitual understanding of the container. Does it matter that my thrown toruses are not a true reproduction of the one designed to carefully proportioned dimensions on Rhino? With nothing to compare my thrown pieces to, I cannot answer that question. I will have to wait until I return to College to find the answers.

Along with my last clay order I bought a gallon of bone china casting slip. To test it I used an old tealight mould, which is basically a torus with a base, on which the tealight sits. They were fired to 1000, sanded smooth, then fired to 1260 after which they were sanded with wet & dry paper. They have come out successfully with very little distortion, a beautiful sheen and are translucent when held up to the light. I think there would be the potential to evolve the design to one where the tealight is positioned to shine through the bone china.


Between house renovations, visiting Kielder Forest and having visitors I have continued my attempts to throw a Ø45cm torus in white earthenware. I am now up to my sixth try with only one saved for turning. As I said above, learning to make a new form takes time, and eventually I will succeed to produce one of the right size, but I’m sure the cross-section won’t be as accurate as I would like, and for me that is essential.

20.07.07 - thinking about the thesis

Since arriving back for the summer I have been concentrating on commercial work, producing more figures for the interior designer we have worked with for the past few years. The work is physically demanding but does allow me some thinking time. One of the things that has come up is linked to how quickly the first year has gone and how soon the end of the second year will come around. I will need to prepare for that moment so that I “hit the ground running”, I think I’ll find it difficult to return to production throwing, supplying galleries and doing the round of potters markets, but I may have to if I don’t follow up other possibilities and take advantage of the opportunities that come up.
I have also been thinking about the thesis and the need to write. One pretty obvious thing that has occurred to me is that the title of the project ‘The Hand and the Glove- Actual and Virtual Explorations of the Ceramic Container’ requires that I make comparisons between hand and digital processes. This raises the issue that, apart from my use of Rhino 3D modelling software I haven’t used any digital manufacturing as anticipated. Over the summer I must prepare models for CNC milling and rapid prototyping. They need to be the right ones, forms that explore the container, but the essential thing will be to experience the process. Another area of exploration is to analyse the practice of other makers who use digital tools, such as those involved with Autonomatic at Falmouth and some of the exhibitors at last year’s exhibition at The Guild of Devon Craftsmen’s gallery in Bovey Tracey. These can be used as case studies and depending on what I find will be used as supporting material in the construction of a ‘position’ or ‘argument’ to be explored in the thesis.

Week ending 05.07.07- end of year 1

I returned to College after a weekend of feeling unsure of the next step in my research. I have plenty of writing to do, but found it difficult to settle because the previous writing [see 22.07.07- Sensing the Container], where I have tried to focus on the core of the experience of perceiving the container has left me doubting that the practical work is coming close to provoking the sensation that I’m looking for. So Monday, a nice quiet day in the house was mostly wasted.
I had a good chat with Steve Brown, one of my fellow researchers about my recent doubts. He expressed having experienced similar feelings and talked about using case studies as material if I couldn’t provide the material myself. This was a new thought for me, I know I need to use examples of other artists work in the thesis, but I had thought that would be solely for contextual purposes. Steve is a very supportive and has a strong insight, our conversations are always stimulating and productive from my point of view, and I hope that I give something in return.
I had planned that this week would be spent getting together the reference material I would need for the thesis writing over the summer but realised that I would have time to do some practical work. I made a replacement for one of the flat cone pieces that I lost through firing too impatiently. It came out well and didn’t require much fettling, so either my skill is improving or the mould is drier and releases the clay more easily.
I find that taking a pen, sketchbook and cup of tea across into Kensington Gardens can be a fruitful experience. For the last couple of weeks the weather has been so wet and cool that there haven’t been many opportunities, but Thursday was a bit kinder so off I went. I made some notes about the container, about its deconstruction, separating the parts- rim, interior and exterior surfaces or making a container without those distinct parts. In relation to deconstruction I think of Malevich and the Cubists periods of Picasso and Braque; in relation to a continuous surface I think of the torus and then the Möbius strip. Which is what I was thinking about before starting at the RCA. I had shelved it as too complicated a structure, but find it maybe the way forward. I must return to the Rhino models and see if they can be used to produce a CNC milled model.
It felt like I’d found a way forward so got some clay and threw three torus pieces, one in white earthenware and two in porcelain.

I was pleased to move away from the feelings I was experiencing at the weekend and this seemed like a step in the right direction. I don’t know where these pieces will lead but they also help to alleviate my concerns that the work shares too many similarities to Martin Smith’s.

A couple of weeks ago I put in an application to take part in a mentoring scheme that the RCA and the Royal Designers for Industry are pioneering. I have chosen Martin Hunt of Queensbury Hunt as the person most appropriate for me and on Wednesday received a call from the chap [Barry…?]co-ordinating the scheme at Innovation RCA to say that it looks like I’ll get the placement.
I emphasised that at this stage of my career a review in light of my RCA experience will be invaluable. I need to change direction, as the studio pottery model is increasingly difficult to sustain. Basically, that is where my experience lies, with some teaching experience, my knowledge of other models is limited.
I’m now writing this sat on the 18.45 Virgin Pendelino train heading north for the last time this academic year. I may have to pop down to use the library at College during the summer but would rather make use of time at home to balance production work and practical and written College work. Plus I have to do some DIY on the house and we definitely need a bit of time off. We’ll see.

Week ending 29.06.07

This is the official last week of term, though I am returning on Tuesday for one more week of tidying up & making use of the library.
My overwhelming feeling is how fast the year has gone, it has been a tremendous experience, I have met many wonderful and talented people and feel lucky to be part of a very special College. Regarding my project, I feel somewhat daunted by the amount of work required to complete it by this time next year. The past 9 months have been spent finding out how to conduct research, developing a context for the project and attempting to produce work in response. The practical part of the project hasn’t moved as fast as I would have liked, partly for technical reasons – learning new techniques takes time, and for the practicalities of working in a studio with very little space which is often cluttered up.

Tuesday:
Arrived to find that the kiln I had booked for tomorrow was empty and very hot, so let it cool for a while then loaded the first of 2 pieces. They are difficult to handle and I broke a small section off the internal rim, more or less ruining it. The second piece had its internal & external cones separated at the rim, with bridging pieces inside. I managed to load it, then left the kiln to cool further, allowing the pots a pretty hot drying period.
At 5.00 I had a tutorial with Martin to discus the writing of the thesis. I had prepared a draft contents page that Martin had asked me to develop into abstract length sections. It had been an interesting exercise, making me realise the importance of writing it in the correct order. For instance I started to write the introduction, then went onto the first section ‘Sensing the Container’, soon beginning to realise that I was duplicating myself and that the ideas were far better expressed in that part than the intro. Martin had a lot to say, plenty of sound advice and didn’t actually say that my efforts were dismal. I felt pretty daunted by the task, though I have found that the writing, when I work at it has improved and is an enjoyable experience. I think that Martin’s main advice is to justify every statement and to write clearly in my own voice.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday:
Attended the Atoms to Art 2 conference held at University College. Though there was an impressive range of speakers from science, ceramics and glass the attendance wasn’t what it deserved. I must admit to cherry picking a little as some of the subjects were either incredibly specialist or potentially interesting, but not relevant to my work at the moment. Besides, on Wednesday I had to cycle back to College to unpack the kiln and discover that rushing things definitely does not pay off. Both pieces had cracked, they should both have been lifted off the kiln shelf, loaded into the kiln when it was cooler and allowed to warm through for much longer. One of them can possibly be used as a mould for vacuum forming so perhaps all is not lost.
Meanwhile, back at Atoms to Art 2 I was very impressed with Marek Cecula and his approach to ceramics. He showed images of work he has selected for a forthcoming exhibition in Toronto. The makers/artists/designers chosen don’t often have a ceramics background and their approach to ceramics is very fresh. Of the work shown many were utilising ready-mades, over-layering or creating contemporary and sometimes political imagery. I think he would make a valuable contribution at the RCA and I plan to put his name forward as a visiting lecturer.

I am writing this, as usual on the train home, hoping that this journey isn’t a repeat of last week’s diversions and delays due to flooding. I finally got home at 12.15 a.m., three & a half hours late. But I was dry & warm and the house wasn’t flooded.

Week ending 22.06.07 -Sensing the Container

Since my brother’s wedding, I have continued to work with the flat cone 01 mould that had dried out well whilst I was away. Martin worked with me, demonstrating how to smear the surface of the mould with soft clay then build up another couple of layers until it is the correct thickness. We added a coil around the inside of the base to strengthen and stop it from distorting. When the piece was taken from the mould it needed relatively little fettling and appears crisp. However, I was a bit disappointed that the lower, internal rim is higher than I had anticipated, so I threw an insert with a smaller diameter to form a false base.

Later I had a meeting with Martin to discuss the preparation for starting the thesis. I had prepared a draft Contents page that Martin has now asked me to flesh out to abstract length. Since then I have spent some time working on the Introduction and the beginning of the first section dealing with the perception of the ceramic container. I have tried to make it engaging and straightforward, but writing doesn’t come easy to me, so it’s not the easiest part of this project. Having said that it does focus the mind on what the practical work is designed to articulate. I’ll include some of the first draft below, if anyone actually reads it with interest please let me know!

Sensing the Container:

I have made thousands of mugs, cups and saucers, bowls of different sizes- ceramic containers of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Function and aesthetics were the main concerns in their gestation. The mug for instance, is a humble, everyday pot but one of the most difficult for a potter to successfully make. Being practiced and attuned to subtle differences will determine its success. Fingers should fit the handle comfortably, there should be a sense of balance when lifting it, it should hold the preferred amount of liquid and the mug is almost unique as it is often in intimate contact with one of our most sensitive organs- the lips.
So we use sight and touch to perceive the mug, sight, touch and smell to perceive the contents. Hearing plays a part in the experience when the tea is poured [and my youngest daughter hates anyone to slurp his or her tea].
We analyse and respond to all that sensory information just to have a cup of tea and we are barely conscious of the complex processes involved. If we stop awhile to look again, what do we see? Firstly, the fabric- decorated red earthenware if I made it, yours may be stoneware or porcelain. Each of these materials has a particular quality that will affect your experience. Then there is the form- it could look like a small bucket, a barrel or a can. It has an interior and an exterior surface, is that one surface or two? A barrel shaped mug will make you think of two surfaces, an open form will be more ambiguous. The rim is the dividing line, but pour a cappuccino and the rim doesn’t restrain the contents, it foams outwards to the ‘exterior’. So where is the dividing line between the inside and outside space?
I like to drink Darjeeling tea, it is a golden translucent liquid and if the interior surface of my mug is pale I can still see its form. If I was to fill the cup with water, I can have the best of both worlds, something to drink and I can still apprehend the interior.
The empty mug is actually full; air is made of matter and energy in the same way as tea, but our perception of it is liminal. However, looking at my empty mug isn’t a lot different than my experience of looking at it when filled with water.
The container actively frames and shapes the matter around it.

That’s as far as I’ve got for the time being, I’m hoping to add to it over the weekend before my next meeting with Martin on Tuesday.

Going back to the mould- it is made of 2 sections, the outer cone and the inner, which is removable. This allows me to make variations of the inner cone, enabling me to produce a series of related forms. I made a second inner cone, deeper than the first and dried it overnight. Since then I have made 2 variations from it, in the first the cones are joined, whereas the second has a gap between the inner and outer cone. I plan to raise it of the surface so that when it is filled with light all three rims will be defined.

We have 2 Swedish post-graduate students on an exchange from Kontsfach in the department. They haven’t been around much, but I spoke to them for the first time last week and they described how they collaborate on installation projects that deal with material, space and object. I asked them if they would make a presentation to the research students so at lunchtime with cakes provided by Heike they showed some photographs of their recent graduation installation in Sweden. It was comprised of a series of ‘rooms’, some bright, white and airy, others very dark with scorched wooden walls and polished concrete floors. The objects ranged from a group of white porcelain teabowls to glazed earthenware ‘mirrors’ and free blown glass container suspended from the ceiling slowly leaking water onto the floor. They describe their work as a desire to connect the viewer with a calm contemplative environment, something that is in short supply for most people in the busy modern world.

The Great Exhibition 2007

Royal College of Art Summer Show

Kensington Gardens and the RCA Galleries

15–28 June


2007 is the 150th birthday of all the great South Kensington cultural and educational institutions, from the Victoria and Albert Museum to Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, all of which were born in the wake of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
To celebrate this birthday in style, the RCA is holding an even more spectacular Summer Show than usual. In homage to the original Great Exhibition itself, we have erected a huge, custom-designed tent in Kensington Gardens located near the site of the original exposition.

Across the road, the College galleries will be open as usual, meaning that for the first time in living memory we are showing the work of all our graduating students at the same time. Fine Art and Applied Art postgraduate students are exhibiting with Design, Architecture, Humanities, Communications and Fashion and Textiles – the art and design of the 21st century coming together in a radically contemporary take on the spirit of 1851.

Previous Shows have been described in the press as showcases for ‘the cream of young artists’ and a chance to ‘discover big names of the future’. With 385 students from over 36 countries and 20 courses exhibiting their work, this year promises no less.

Week ending 01.06.07

Monday:
It was a Bank Holiday so didn’t teach at Cumbria Institute of the Arts.

Tuesday:
An extremely busy train took me back to London, and more or les immediately into an interim exam feedback session with Martin Smith. All appears well, so now I have to concentrate on putting together the Contents page of my thesis. Martin gave me a couple of recent ones to look at. We also discussed the prospects of upgrading to Ph.D. Does the project have “wheels”, as they say, which means will it make “a unique contribution to knowledge”? There is also the major question of funding, etc. etc.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday:
The rest of a tiring week was spent re-making my flat cone 01 mould, as my first attempt wasn’t accurate enough. I had rushed the preparation & making in the hope that I would have had a piece ready for my interim examination. That will teach me a lesson.

This time the discs for the model were made from acrylic, cut out on a router then the edge sanded smooth. When it came to mating the two sections of the mould together, Stephan, our patient plaster workshop technician pointed out that they weren’t perfectly round and should have been turned on the lathe! However, this mould is a great improvement on the previous one, I have learnt some valuable lessons so next time things should be easier.



Meanwhile, preparations for the Great Exhibition of 2007 are well underway; the second years are putting in the hours and it’s good to see some exciting finished work being moved around. The show should be spectacular, so if anyone reads this and can get to London it will be well worth it. See the RCA website for details.
There will probably not be an entry next week as I’m going with my youngest daughter Grace to my brother’s wedding in Austria.

Week ending 25.05.07

Monday:
The morning was spent in a meeting at CIA to discuss the setting up of a Craft Research Centre. Vicky and I had been invited along with Paul Scott [of Ceramics and Print etc.] and the Cox’s {Potfest organisers].
Jude Stoll has recently completed a survey of craft in Cumbria and along with Ian Farren, the head of the School of Art & Design wished to hear our views.
I started off by raising the thorny question of ‘craft’, a word full of connotations and ‘baggage’. Both Paul and I thought the term ‘applied art’ is a title that covers the range of current practice. I agreed with Paul that there should be an academic tier to the centre to give it stature, and for something for undergraduates to make use of & aspire to.
To support current practitioners and emerging new makers I suggested the setting up of a Hidden Art franchise based at the centre. Jude mentioned that there is interest from a group of makers around Kendal, but she has asked them to hold on until the CIA has looked into it. My feeling is that a Hidden Art franchise is too big an operation to set up amongst a group of practitioners unless they have enough funding to employ an organiser.
The Cox’s seemed mostly concerned about their kiln site at the Newton Rigg College site at Penrith and made very little positive contributions to the wider discussions. My other suggestions were for the inclusion of a digital manufacturing centre or bureau along the lines of Metropolitan Works. This all seems very ambitious for a centre in Carlisle, but later this year it will become part of the newly formed University of Cumbria and an ideal opportunity to aim high whilst there is investment going in.
The next step for me is to attend a meeting to discuss the Hidden Art franchise.

Tuesday:
Back to the RCA and set about producing a model and mould of flat cone 01.
I am looking to produce a one sided piece that would work equally well on a flat surface or wall. Additionally there is the advantage that the piece is far simpler to produce than the two ended cones and allows me to test variations fairly quickly. By the end of the afternoon I had the mould drying in the cabinet and it was off to The Gate restaurant in Hammersmith to help Jeannette celebrate her birthday. Ray and Jeannette are the couple who kindly have allowed me to use their spare room 3 nights a week whist I’m at College. They are keen collectors of ceramics and have a large eclectic collection.

Wednesday:
Nervous preparations for tomorrow’s Interim Examination; I had thought that I was ready, but having looked at Steve’s Summary of Work to Date, I thought mine needed improving.
Had hoped to produce a cast from the new flat cone mould but it is still too wet.

Thursday:
The morning was spent printing off copies of my written work, selecting and cleaning practical work and a bit of last minute panic! As Martin Smith is both my supervisor and Head of Department Hans Stofer, head of G,S,M & J was brought in to act as chair. Heike Brachlow, one of my fellow students came out of her examination saying that he had asked some difficult questions, so my nervous anticipation went up a notch or two. Alongside Hans Stofer and Martin, Alison Britton and Liz Aylieff interviewed me. Luckily, I felt comfortable with the questions and afterwards was told by Martin that I had passed. Next week there will be a feedback session that I am quite looking forward to in the hope that constructive advice will be given.
I have asked to see Liz next week as she raised an interesting observation that the internal space in my pieces appears to her as a passage. It’s not something that had occurred to me as I see them as containers of light.
Finished early so that I could cook Jeannette and Ray a Surprise Tatin. Jeannette’s partial to root vegetables [which Ray puts down to her Irish ancestry!] and the surprise in this recipe is the potatoes!

Friday:
Spent some time thinking about and discussing Martin’s advice on the alteration of the press moulds with Stephan. Having tried to marry the inner and outer cones decided that it would be more efficient to start again with a really precise model. Having rescued 2 large vinyl display boards from the clear up of the fashion show I thought I could laser cut them or use the plotter to print out the surfaces of my new cone 07 form. So went down to the laser cuter/vacuum forming workshop and had some very good advice from Ian, the technician. He suggested making the model on the CNC milling machine in the Darwin workshops, so it was back upstairs to see Neil the technician. No problem with the design, just have to see Gordon in Vehicle Design about a block of material out of which I can have the model milled. That’s the job for first thing Tuesday afternoon.

Sunday:
Went up to Blackwell, the Arts and Craft house near Bowness-on-Windermere with Vicky as Emmanuel Cooper has asked me to write a review of the Gareth Mason exhibition for Ceramic Review. On the few occasions that I have seen his work I have always found it difficult to understand what he’s aiming at, but this time was really enlightening.

Week ending 18.05.07 -The Centrality of Clay

Monday:
Teaching at CIA in Carlisle.

Tuesday:
Back to the RCA and upstairs for a chat with Tomek Rygalik, an ex-RCA product designer, who seems to be based in college, partly engaged in his own practice partly as a researcher. We discussed vacuum forming specifically & materials generally. He has offered to take me through vacuum forming next Friday, when he returns from his trip to New York. Meanwhile I set about producing the mould of the outside cone.

Wednesday:
Finished the cone mould.
Our Taiwanese artist friend, Chun Chao sent me some titles from his PhD bibliography that he thought might be relevant to my project. One particular recommendation – The Art of Light + Space was in stock in the library and looks very interesting.

Thursday:
Took the small cone mould down to the large vacuum forming machine in the basement. The third attempt was successful, but doesn’t bear close inspection as the styrene is of uneven thickness. My first impression is that it will appear insubstantial, though with the inclusion of a light source this could be an advantage.

Friday:
Made another attempt to put together the ceramic cone, but the thickness of the clay walls is preventing the pieces from fitting. I then took a ‘cast’ of the inner cones, which after firing will be about 10% smaller and from which I can make new moulds.
The process is slow & frustrating, however it’s partly due to learning new techniques and partly that practical works takes longer in the college than in the workshop at home.
Continued to muse about the centrality of clay to my project on the evening train journey home. It's usually a good opportunity to write without too many distractions.
My thoughts about the use of clay are still not fully resolved, but are being aired in the Centrality of Clay essay in the Writing section of the website.

Week ending 11.05.07

Monday:
It was the May Day Bank Holiday here in the UK, so no teaching at Carlisle. Instead, continued with written work for College and spent some enjoyable time with my family.

Tuesday:
Busy train journey back to College, then straight into the plaster shop for the afternoon to complete the outer cone mould











I was a little concerned that it would be difficult to remove the inner clay & wood model, but it came out surprisingly easily.
They are all now drying in the heated cabinet, hopefuly I'l be able to start using them tomorrow.
Made a semi-matt cream glaze which I'm managing to test fire later today. I'm looking for a neutral, non ceramic surface treatment, this may be the answer.
In an effort to compare materials and techniques I have emailed Corian© looking for contacts & information about thermoforming and including LED into the surface of my pieces.

Friday:
Started the day by rolling out a slab to wrap around the small inner cone as the clay applied to it yesterday stuck very firmly to the surface.
I had to break off to have a tutorial with Jonathan Miles in the Humanities Department. He had been recommended as someone to discuss perception with, and after describing the aims of my project he gave me a brief history of philosophy of perception since Descartes!
The most relevant thing we discussed was the ‘autonomous object’. Jonathan Miles defined it as an object that can speculate on its own condition, rather than being a comment or statement. I find this relevant to my questioning of the centrality of ceramics to the project. But how does an object become autonomous? Surely any contrived object is autobiographical whether it is functional or sculpture? I can imagine a series of objects collectively being ‘autonomous’, each being part of an act of speculation.
I must ask Jonathan Miles for specific texts that discuss this notion.
His general suggestions were:
HIEDEGGER: ‘Being and Time’ and the essays ‘The Question of Technology’ & ‘The Thing’.
ROSALIND KRAUSS: ‘Sculpture and the Extended Field’
MERLAU—PONTY: suggested first reading a commentary or Aesthetic reader. ‘Eye of the Mind’ and ‘Cezanne’s Doubt’.

I came away from the tutorial aware that I have 20+ years of ingrained thinking habits which must be questioned in order for me to truly engage with this project.

My feeling is that my past practice as a functional potter led me to this point and the ceramic container should remain the core of the project. If I abandon the ceramic element I am then moving into territory that I have little knowledge or experience of. However, my investigation of the digital has brought me into contact with making techniques and materials that could well be part of the future of ceramics. This is one of the reasons for undertaking this project and could be part of my post-RCA life.


The rest of the day was spent wrestling with the moulds. I tried to fit the smaller end cone into the outer cone and though I had carefully worked out the dimensions, the thickness of the clay walls was a problem that made assembly impossible. So my plans to have assembled a piece by this evening went completely out of the window. I will have to make scaled down versions of the inner cones by taking and firing clay ‘casts’ from which new moulds can be made. In theory this should work, but I won’t have a fired piece in time for my interim examination on the 24th.

Week ending 04.05.07

Monday:
Teaching at CIA- started with tutorials, focusing on the development of ideas. In the afternoon gave a 2-hour Rhino 3D introductory demonstration. It was a hands on session, which I think went quite well.

Tuesday:
Back at the RCA to a busy week making the moulds for press-moulding and looking into rapid prototyping a model to produce a vacuum forming mould from. First of all I had to explore whether the cone pieces use true cones. Martin suspected they aren’t so I spent a few hours on the train & in the afternoon testing whether it’s possible to bring 2 truncated cones together with an even 2cm gap separating their ‘sharp’ ends. In the end I came to the conclusion that it’s not possible, the centre must be started from 2 circles, each lofted to the outer ends of the cones, then those lofted to each other.

Wednesday:
Started the day with a meeting with Nick Grace up in Rapidform. They are under pressure installing new machines and helping 2nd years prepare work for their final shows. Still, he gave me time to discuss preparing a Rhino model for production on the ZCorp machine. The cost is huge – 25p/cc doesn’t sound much but when my model is 1.34 litres we’re looking at £300! However, my models need scaling down to fit within the 250X200X200 bed size. So that will bring about a reduction in cost. Meanwhile, I returned to the analogue!

I had some plywood discs cut, based on Cone 6 dimensions. Angled lengths of 2X2 connected them. The space between the discs was then filled with clay.

Thursday:
Woke early so was in college by 8.00am. Continued with the moulds
< These are the inner cone moulds over which I'll form the clay.








This is the outer cone made on Friday, with an extra disc on top. This one is to have the plaster applied directly onto the surface, building it out in line with the discs. When the former is removed & the plaster is dry, it can be used as a press mould for the outer cone.


At lunchtime we had another of our research cluster get togethers. They are an opportunity for one of us to discuss an aspect of their project. I set up the first meeting to help me define the core of my project. The perspective of my fellow students is extremely helpful, though our projects are quite different to each others, we have enough overlaps and shared interests to make our group very supportive.
Today, I had invited Alison Britton to discuss her new work on show at Barrett Marsden Gallery.
At the opening night Alison used phrases like "taking risks", "loosening up" and "relaxing", and it was these aspects of moving towards a new body that I thought were relevant to some of us. One of the most interesting parts was her description of how a piece of work can initiallly be inspired by a theme, such as a place, a piece of writing, personal views and that it may loose it's link to it's original starting point as the piece progresses. The title always comes last and generally doesn't have a relationship with the original theme.
The question I would like to ask Alison is "How does a viewer then interpret the piece? What are the criteria and how much are we expected to understand of the context in which the the work is made?" These may seem like naive questions, but for me that are worth pursuing.

Friday:
I was in two minds about staying in London this coming wekend to complete my moulds and visit some galleries. However, my eldest daughter, Rowan wil be home from Manchester, the garden and the surrounding countryside are so beautiful at this particular time of year and the fact that I can have some time to relax has made it an easy decision to go for the 18.45 train north. I'll also be able to prepare the written parts for the interim examination scheduled for the 24th.

From the backdoor, looking across the side garden towards the woods

Week ending 27.04.07

Monday
2nd session at CIA, in the afternoon had a demo of SolidWorks 3D modelling software. Pretty refined in comparison to Rhino, but costs a lot more.

Tuesday
Back to the RCA and started to prepare the fired cone pieces for Thursday’s tutorial. The firing cracks were filled with Plastic Padding, sanded smooth then taken upstairs to be sprayed with cellulose paint. The finish is not bad, 2 are a satin white and one is black.

Wednesday
I had forgotten that I had signed up for a FuelRCA presentation skills day focusing on ‘meeting the client’. The day was of limited use as we were guinea pigs; generally I think my day could have been better spent. The mind map exercise was the most valuable as my partner thought that ‘research’ is the core of my practice, not ‘ceramics’ as it seemed to initially suggest. This has a bearing on how I prepare for my post-RCA life.
After this I continued to finish my cone pieces then assembled the LED’s & installed them successfully in one of the cones. They illuminate the piece with a blue glowing light, no colour or intensity changes as yet.

Thursday
The tutorial with Martin was very productive. I showed him the cone pieces; they are less successful than the cone 05 test piece in terms of the illusion created. However, they have served their purpose in demonstrating that LED lighting is worth pursuing, but mostly that throwing and assembly is definitely not a suitable technique for these pieces. The chance of cracking is high, grogged clay is difficult to smooth and though my throwing skills are pretty good it’s still difficult to produce a cone with a perfectly straight profile. Martin brought up the choice of making technique and exploration of alternative materials. It was decided that a model should be made that could be used to produce a mould for press moulding and for vacuum forming. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear as I have questioned the need for this work to be made of clay. I wish to remove all traces of the hand and any connotations with studio ceramics.
I also showed Martin the new website, which he thinks will make a valuable contribution to the interim examination coming up in May.
After the tutorial Martin, Alison and I discussed the last two research applications, one was rejected, one accepted, which should be interesting as his project is almost a glass version of mine. It looks like the ‘research cluster’ is going to increase to 7.

Friday
Bit of a frustrating day as I hoped to start on making the rest of the moulds for the cube glass cast first thing in the morning, but couldn’t find any clay! It brings it home that I must prepare in advance, it’s not like the workshop at home where everything is under my control. I did complete one more, but had hoped to make the remaining three.
I popped upstairs to the Darwin workshops to learn about vacuum forming where the French technician Fred was pretty negative. I need to find others to ask, maybe visit a specialist company.
Stephan came to give me some advice about producing a model for press moulding; it should be straightforward but will need to be planned carefully. I continued to produce a Rhino model that can be used then went to see Martin Watmough in RapidForm to talk about Rapid prototyping a model. He thinks it will be possible on the ZCorp machine, but is likely to cost over £200. I’m meeting Nick Grace up there on Wednesday to discuss the details. The advantage is that the model would be absolutely accurate and could be used to produce a model for vacuum forming. Martin also told me about a powerful new laser cutter that’s been installed recently. Apparently it’s capable of cutting much heavier duty material, so I will need to check it out to find whether I can use it to produce a strong accurate model.

Week ending 20.04.07

Monday-
Teaching my first session of a new ceramics project at Cumbria Institute of the Arts.

Tuesday-
Back to London, the focus of this week is to finish my test pieces in preparation for next week’s tutorial with Martin Smith. I have four cone pieces to fire, one of which cracked during drying, highlighting the hazardous complexity of traditional making techniques on forms where internal access is impossible. I have discussed attempting to press mould a similar cube form, however I suspect that will not overcome the technical difficulties. Slip casting and the post-firing assembly of parts are some of the other ceramic techniques to consider, before investigating alternative materials and RM.
I sprayed both the biscuit fired and dry pieces with a white Hyplas 71 ball clay terra sigillata slip and a leftover demo piece I made at Ceramic Art London with a black terra sigillata made from our standard black slip recipe.

Wednesday-
Packed the kiln and started the firing.

Thursday-
Unpacked the kiln in the afternoon. Mixed results- the black slip worked very well, but I suspected it would do because of the sheen it developed on application. The white slip is smooth, but very little sheen, it doesn’t look any different from before the firing.
The packet of LED’s, controllers, and transformer arrived from my brother in Austria. I now have the means to put together a simple circuit to produce either white or coloured lights and with further experimentation [and assistance] I should be able to incorporate a proximity sensor to control effects.
In the evening there was an excellent presentation on biomimetics by MADE [the Material And Design Exchange]. The first part was by Julian George, a material scientist from Imperial College looking into producing synthetic bone structures. He showed examples of biomimetic developments from spider’s webs, lotus flowers etc. Geoff Hollington, a product designer and member of MADE talked about how biomimetics may impact on our lives in the future. Materials that will react in the same way as our senses allow us to are in development and will be part of the not too distant future.

Friday-
I started to prepare a mould for casting cube 4 in glass. The form was designed on Rhino; I then produced Illustrator files of all its surfaces. These were printed onto adhesive vinyl by plotter/cutter, stuck onto 5mm foamboard and cut out with a craft knife. The internal corners needed to be mitred before assembly. Once assembled, they were used as a model from which to take a plaster/quartz cast.
At lunchtime the research cluster met at Heike’s request to discuss her project. It is always a fruitful experience, the similarities and differences of our projects allowing some fresh perspectives and new information to follow up. For instance, Heike showed a photograph of a piece of glass by Richard Whitely which looks very similar to part of cube 4!

Saturday-
Catching up with things at home- domestic duties, mowing the lawn, checking seedlings etc. All a healthy contrast to London, allowing me some important time to reflect on the week.

Sunday-
The rain has returned after 3 or 4 weeks of gorgeous weather, however I’m packing some of the figures that I made during Easter. My youngest daughter, Grace has an interview at Midddlesex University on Tuesday for a place on the Fashion & Textiles course and Vicky is helping her to complete a Yamamoto top. The pattern was downloaded from the Showstudio website with very few instructions, so assembly has been a challenge. She is really keen to get a place, however students are asked to leave their portfolios, and after inspection some of the applicants are invited to interview. She’ll be pretty devastated if she doesn’t get an interview, as that is where she will excel.

introduction

As you may have gathered from other parts of the site, I am an M.Phil research student in the Ceramics and Glass department of the Royal College of Art in London.

I generally travel weekly from my home & family in Cumbria, usually spending Tuesday to Friday in London and the weekend at home.

March 2007

At Metropolitan Works there have been a series of talks in conjunction with the Digital Explorers II show. The talk by Fluidforms was of interest for their use of Open Source software in their microprocessor circuits. Also see www.processing.org. It may be more accessible than the Picaxe microprocessor which I'm trying to link to a proximity sensor and LED lighting.


14.03.07
Bumped into David Watkins, head of G,S,M & J whilst he was havng a cigarette outside the back door of the RCA. He mentioned a Ph.D student called Moi Fusachal from 99 who had experimented with interactive light in body adornment. Also saw Martin Watmough from RapidformRCA telling me about some new 'blob' software, I must investigate!
Met up with Martin Smith, Alison Britton & Liz Aylieff to discuss new research student applications, then interviewed June Kingsbury. I find the whole process quite fascinating and it certainly puts my own application into a new light!


15.03.07
A lovely early spring morning got me into college by 8.00a.m.I spent a quiet hour finishing the turnng and assembly of my second ceramic test piece. Though simple in appearance, they are complex to assemble. One is slowly drying; this morning's is wrapped in plastic letting the moisture in the 3 parts slowly even out before being unwrapped in a couple of days time.The rest of the day has been spent going through all my Research Methods course notes and transferring the relevant info onto the computer. I've also got to grips with del.icio.us bookmarking so follow the link in the recommended sites page.

If you can recommend anything relevant to my studies please let me know.