Art & Books: April 2004 Archives

I spent the day in the darkroom. Apart from an hour of infinite series problems, then another hour of finishing off the roll of film I did my self-portraits on, of course. I developed that roll of film, which turned out to be fogged, though possibly through no fault of mine (maybe exposure to too much heat was the verdict from the experts; it wasn't one of the rolls I took to England, which did end up slightly fogged). At any rate, the teacher seemed to think it was fixable through contrast filter use, so I'll make an attempt later.

Then I went into the printing darkroom and spent four hours bumping into and being bumped into by other people, because two of the room safelights were out and it was exceptionally dark, even for a darkroom. I usually adjust enough that I don't need to use my own safelight for anything but note-taking, but today I had to rely on my safelight for everything, including seeing what the timer was set to.

I made about twelve prints, with varying success. I worked entirely from older negatives, as the new ones were still too curly to print nicely. I also experimented with the adjustable easel, which turned out to be a royal pain in the ass to use. I actually returned it after a couple of prints because it was driving me nuts. I like the unadjustable ones so much more, and printing with them is so much faster.

I cut short my printing time because I was getting tired from all that standing on concrete. I am working tomorrow morning and early afternoon on guild stuff -- I want to make a couple of birdhouses so I can keep one and give the guild one to sell -- so if I am not worn out from that I may go back to the darkroom and make a contact sheet and some prints from the portraits roll, just to see how they come out.

When I got home, I spent some time researching kilns and throwing wheels. I want to buy a wheel for less than $300, but that seems like a long shot, unless I comb tag sales and craigslist. I thought kick wheels would be cheaper, but they're right up there with electric wheels. I guess I'm not the only person who prefers them. On the other hand, it looks like I can get a kiln for considerably less than I had initially thought, with all the bells and whistles I want. Now we just need to built The Shed to house it.

Today the guild had Richard Notkin in to discuss his work. He gave two lectures: one a history of his work from 1968 to present, and the other, after a brief break, a technical explanation of how he makes his work and the sorts of clay and surface treatments he uses.

This man is a master mold maker. His molds are works of art in and of themselves, and I took four pages of notes during his technical talk. I came away with some really great, useful information on mold making, and I can't wait to use it (but I must, as our last day of wet clay is next Wednesday and I have three sculptures to finish before then).

So, here's some of what I got from the lecture:

• Pouring spouts can be drilled after the mold is made, to the size of a funnel which you insert in the hole. Then the plastic of the funnel keeps the clay from hardening in the spout and makes it easier to empty the mold and to clean up afterward.
• You can make molds of tiny items by adding small air vents to the exterior and forcing the slip in with a syringe or baster.
• Formica-covered boards make the best cottle boards.
• When mold soap is dirty it tends to foam, so pour a small amount in a cup to use for a particular mold and discard it when it has gone cloudy.
• You can make masters for moldmaking from leather-hard clay turned on the wheel and milled out with carving tools; the solid clay keeps the whole thing damp.
• When you make a mold of a leather-hard clay positive, line the hole in the clay bed with plastic wrap to keep the positive from sticking to the clay bed. Use super-wet clay for the clay bed and make that conform to the positive, and you will keep your detail.
• You can store castings under bell jars to keep them damp without losing detail from plastic contact.
• You can carve out the detail in undercuts after doing a casting, and you will still have saved yourself time on modelling.
• Time is a tool.

I also really enjoyed his sense of humour and self-possession about his art. At one point he talked about how the teapot makers in Yixing complained that his teapots were not functional, to which he responded, "Some of my teapots are not very functional, but I think I'm more interested in conveying ideas and concepts than tea."

I've found a nice source of weird plaster molds for ceramics: eBay. They can be had for relatively little; often less than $10 each. The catch is that shipping on a huge hunk of plaster is likely to run into the $30 range, at least.

But they have stuff listed there that is simply not available in catalogs.

I've been shocked at the utter schlock in catalogs, and the lack of really good, weird molds for doing something more than making trinkets for the craft fair circuit. I expected more pots, more things for doing something remotely artistic, but as far as I can tell, the artists make their own molds and eschew the commercial mold market altogether.

It's that classic issue: if it can be made in mass, can it be art? A ridiculous thing to be arguing about, in my opinion. Mass production itself can be art, as any first-year art student should know well and good. Art is about evoking emotions, and if something evokes emotions, why bother arguing about whether it can be art based on some supposed criteria for what constitutes real art? Art happens, and if you try to stop it from happening by redefining it to death you are only cheating yourself.

So I've been buying molds on eBay with no particular project in mind. They are just crying to be turned into a weird army of figures, lined up along one side of the yard, painted with wode and armed with pitchforks against the English.

I had a long day today: nine hours in studios of various sorts.

In the sculpture studio we did viscosity transfer today, and I printed a Beethoven portrait. I need to built a stand for my multiple Beethovens, so I can print all over it. I'm thinking now that a back would be a good idea, because it gives me more surfaces for printing.

I also developed two rolls of film -- the film from the UK plus half a roll taken around campus -- which came out nicely, despite a brief flash of light on one of them when I made a mistake during development. I put them in the notebook to flatten and will make contact sheets tomorrow. I was very happy with my new bin for toting that gear around -- a file box from Office Max. It's just about perfectly sized for everything I have, and fits exactly in the locker I have near the darkroom. It meant I just grabbed the bin instead of fumbling around trying to pile everything up neatly and keep the smaller bits like the thermometer clip from rolling all over the place.

The printing room was also open tonight, so I was able to drop in and make my polymer plate, then proof and print the black part of my page. I still need to make the linoleum print of lemons that I want to put on the rest of the page, along with Julia's portrait (the polymer plate).

As I left school, the air seemed to sparkle. Maybe it was too much time with toxic chemicals, but the black of the night seemed blacker and the lights seemed sparklier than usual. It made for a lovely drive.

I concentrated on glazing today in studio.

I had a whole pile of stuff that needed washing and glazing: seven Beethovens, nine Hello Kitties, five eggs, and three gnomes. Plus the nest and some other odds and ends (a couple baby heads). I didn't get to everything.

I started by glazing the eggs with Shiny White, which is a sort of eggshelly shiny white glaze like a sink or toilet might be glazed with. Then I did the Kitties: three in various dips of Shiny White, then three with assorted decoration in pink engobe, dipped in Transparent, then three just dipped in Transparent. I had to wash one of the Kitties whose glaze I marred by not paying attention, but they're not doing a cone 10 firing until later in the week so it's all good.

I painted one baby head with pink engobe and dipped it halfway in Transparent, which kind of made it look like an orc from the LOTR movie. One of the guys remarked that it was really disturbing. The other baby head -- the one that is going in the giant egg on the nest -- I painted in thick red iron oxide, so it will come out shiny gunmetal when it's fired at cone 10. I finished working on the egg for that one -- a piece from a mold borrowed from Angela -- earlier in the day.

For the Beethovens, I dipped the faceless one in Mark's Temoku (which is black with gold flecks in it fired on white clay at cone 10), then dipped the others in Shiny White. I'll dip them in Trout Green tomorrow, so when they're fired they'll be a pale green that darkens in the depressions. I had to wait on dipping them the second time because the clay was so thin that the glaze had to air dry, and that's slower than letting the clay suck up all the water.

I didn't get to the gnomes, in part because I couldn't quite decide which glaze I wanted to use. I think I know now.

Finally, I glazed the one pear I have -- which I'm going to make into a bell -- with one of the low-fire underglazes. Those underglazes become actual glazes at cone 10, and there happened to be one that's sort of golden yellow with brown flecks in it, like a pear. So I put two coats of that on the pear and I'll finish it tomorrow morning. I realized when I got home that I'd left the bottle of underglaze out, and I hope nobody gets themself in trouble with it.

Other studio fun: One of the people in another class asked to use my Beethoven mold, so I left her a note on it saying yes, and telling her not to use red clay in it (red clay will stain the mold and any white clay I use in it forever after; I'm fairly sure I'll be remaking that mold over the summer, but I don't want to borrow trouble). Then somebody else in the class asked to use the same mold, so I said yes. He managed to pour the mold in the last minutes of the class, so the clay will still be in there tomorrow when this other person wants to use it. Maybe I will demold it for him tomorrow afternoon, if he doesn't show up and do it himself. We only have a couple weeks of wet clay left, and the Beethoven mold has to sit overnight to unmold properly.

Next class I'm going to bring in the text I want to print for the platform to hold the Beethovens. I'm trying to find sheet music for Beethoven's 7th symphony, but maybe I will give up and go with the 9th (which is my favourite, anyway).

PS - I forgot to mention: I also made a gnome with wings on it (wings from a classmate's mold). I'm going to call it "Fly Away Gnome." It will go with the Gnome Garden.

Here's a photo of my ceramic wall piece. From this piece I learned that it is often best to glue after firing, rather than build something complex and detailed and inclined to sag and then fire it. I kind of like it, though.

And here's how the Cecile Brunner rose is coming along. I cut off the first two tiny roses and gave them to friends last night.

A couple weeks ago Noel was offered the chance to buy an old, somewhat damaged harpsichord from a friend who had inherited it and didn't want to ship it back East. He naturally jumped at the offer and today he went and picked it up. It needs some repair work, but seems to be mostly in good shape. A decent harpsichord for playing, or so he says. It sounded nice to me.

Here are some photos: