From Skilled Hands

Working With Porcelain Clay

By fromskilledhands ( July 31, 2008 at 10:35 am) · Filed under Clay, Craft, creativity, pottery

Back in May of 2007, I wrote about working with porcelain clay,

I love porcelain clay. I love everything about it. I love the delicate smooth quality of it and how it requires that I pay attention. I love that it doesn’t let me hide; every finger and nail mark is right there. These are the marks of the craftsman; they show you the item was made by a person rather than a machine.

Working with porcelain is kind of like working with Philadelphia cream cheese as a canvas. You have to wait for just the right balance between wet and dry; an exercise in attentiveness.It’s a useful thing thing to work on.

I have been working on a new series of tiles, and some carved vases. My husband throws the vases, and I carve them. Here are a couple of pieces in process:

Hands

carved

.

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10 comments »

Susan Sandmore said,

July 31, 2008 @ 11:34 am

Oh my gosh–gorgeous! I’m impressed!
Amy said,

July 31, 2008 @ 12:28 pm

That’s so beautiful!
Larramie said,

July 31, 2008 @ 12:49 pm

How painstakingly intricate with a most lovely end result.
Travis Erwin said,

July 31, 2008 @ 2:10 pm

Very nice.
Cathy said,

July 31, 2008 @ 4:58 pm

Hi Debra! What a beautiful piece! Look forward to seeing the finished result. Enjoying the pictures on your site. A picture is worth 1,000 words…though the words are always great!!
Eryl Shields said,

August 1, 2008 @ 5:41 am

I absolutely love hand thrown clay, and have garnered quite a collection over the years. Your decoration here is gorgeous, and how lovely to work as a team with your husband.
Kim Ayres said,

August 1, 2008 @ 2:21 pm

So when will you do one with a sudoku puzzle or crossword on it?
fromskilledhands said,

August 2, 2008 @ 7:58 am

Here’s what happened: the glaze didn’t melt properly and so the pot will have to be re-fired. Did I mention that it is a wedding gift for our niece (who is getting married this afternoon)? Oh well….file this under: good things come to those who wait.

Thanks for stopping by, Susan. And thank you for your kind words.

Thank you, Amy. It is interesting to see photos of the pieces. I can look at them in a different way.

Larramie–it is an intense process. I am looking forward to the piece being refired.

Thanks, Travis! What you do with words, I try to do with clay

Hi Cathy! Good to see you again. I’m having fun with the photos since I got a camera that actually works!

Thank you, Eryl. It IS pretty neat to share the process with my lovely husband of many years.

Well, Kim, the next one will have a crossword like this K I M
A
Y
E
R
S
Mary Witzl said,

August 2, 2008 @ 10:46 am

That is lovely, Debra. I have only thrown pots with porcelain clay once, but I’ll never forget the wonderfully smooth, creamy texture of porcelain clay as opposed to what we called ‘tooki’ or earthernware clay. I wonder if the firing conditions are the same? I know that the glazes react differently.
Mary said,

August 3, 2008 @ 12:21 pm

I made a lot of ceramics in my first year at art college, and loved it when we â€˜graduatedâ€™ from rough (I forget the name of it) clay to smooth porcelain â€¦ so beautiful to work with.