By William Sheppard, Ceramics Artisan
Working in the field of CERAMICS requires a constant compromise with
Mother Nature. The following procedures are a few of the opportunities that
I have to negotiate with her.
1. To create the delicate, light weight, fine china art that Pat Young
Ceramic Arts is famous for, all of my pieces start out as a very thinly
rolled out slab of clay. Usually this slab is less than 3/8 of an inch
thick. Because the slab is so thin it tends to start drying very quickly. I
have to use a spray bottle to keep the slab damp while I am cutting out the
various leaf impressions that I use to build my creations. These various
"clay leaves" then have to be stored between sheets of wet paper and covered
with a sheet of plastic to continue to delay the drying process. When I have
enough flexible "clay leaves" to model a complete piece I have to work very
fast to get the piece assembled and apply the individual personality twists
and pinches that give it a unique beauty. Only then can I cover the modeled
bowl or plate with a slightly damp cloth to retard the drying process. If
it dries too fast the thin walls of clay will crack and split. Eventually
each piece is allowed to air dry without this damp cover. This drying
procedure can take up to 3 or 4 days.
2. Once the modeled piece has air dried to a rather stiff condition
called greenware it needs to be cleaned. All of the raw edges have to be
smoothed and rounded over and any minute blemishes in the clay's surface
have to be rubbed out with a damp sponge. At this stage too much water will
dissolve the clay and ruin the work. This very important process can take
nearly an hour on a complicated piece.
3. Once the pieces have dried after the cleaning process they are then
loaded into a kiln for the "bisque firing". Stacking the various sized
pieces is similar to designing a puzzle. The main concern is that in the
stacking enough space is left around each piece to allow a sufficient flow
of oxygen. This is so the carbon materials in the clay will completely burn
out. Loading an average sized kiln can take up to 2 hours.
4. The actual firing time for a bisque firing in an electric kiln is
normally 7 hours. Other work can be accomplished during the firing but each
hour the temperature switches have to turned up in a regulated order. The
final 30 minutes requires constant attention to assure a desired
time/temperature combination has been reached. This is done by watching a
small clay firing cone inside the kiln that will start to bend over when the
firing is completed. Once the kiln is turned off a cooling period of 12
hours is required to slowly reduce the internal temperature. Cooling too
fast will cause the ceramic pieces to crack. The earthenware clay we use
produces a very bright white bisque. This is needed to reflect the brilliant
colored glazes we apply.
5. When unloading the bisque from the kiln and at all other times it is
being handled, precautions need to be taken that will keep the porous
surface of the bisque as clean as possible. The body oil from finger tips
will seal the surface keeping glaze from being absorbed into the bisque.
Dust is also a problem to be concerned with.
6. Applying glaze with a brush or spray gun is an art in itself.
Different glazes require various numbers of coats of varying thickness.
Only experience can teach the correct combinations that will give the best
possible chance of a desired result. Changes in the studio's humidity will
affect the time a coat of glaze takes to dry. Glaze coats that dry too fast
will not be absorbed into the surface of the bisque and will eventually
flake off. If an additional coat of glaze is applied onto a previous coat
that is not fully dry the wet coat will cause the previous coat to lift up
from the bisque surface. At this time each piece is signed with the
initials PY in black glaze and eventually becomes a part of the ceramic
finish.
7. The second firing, gloss firing, will cause the glaze to melt and
then as it cools, fuse itself to the ceramic piece giving it its color and
durability. Loading a glaze kiln is much more time consuming than loading a
bisque firing. Since all of my pieces are glazed on ALL surfaces they have
to be propped up above the kiln shelves on small metal tipped stilts. If
this wasn't done the melting glaze would fuse the piece to the kiln shelf.
Loading a glaze kiln where each piece has to be stilted can take up to 3
hours. The glaze firing usually is shorter than a bisque firing for two
reasons. There will be less pieces in the kiln as glazed pieces can not be
stacked or they would fuse together and the firing temperature for a glaze
firing is slightly lower thus taking less time, about 6 1/2 hours. The same
cooling period of 12 hours is needed before the kiln can be opened and
unloaded.
8. Once out of the kiln the finished pieces will have sharp points of
glaze where the pieces rested on the stilts. These sharp points have to be
ground smooth with a grinding stone. At the end of this process the
traditional "gold label" signifying this as an official Pat Young Handmade
Original is attached to the back of each piece.
9. The final challenge is to pack the ordered pieces well enough so
they arrive into the customer's hands with out any damage.
Our family's studio has been following these processes for 50 years.
With all of that experience we at times still lose the struggle with Mother
Nature. The art of ceramics requires the artist to put his heart and soul
into a hand made piece and then place it into the fires of hell and pray for
a satisfactory outcome.
