PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF,

I’M A MAN OF CLAY AND GLAZE

PUSHED MUD AROUND FOR SEVENTY YEARS

OR TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND DAYS.

Robin Hopper is a man of many parts, mostly worn out, rusty or dysfunctional, due to a lifetime of excesses! He started working with clay at the age of three and is still doing it over 70 years later. His lengthy, peripatetic career as a mudpusher has included side trips into working as a Professional Actor, Stage Designer, Property Maker, Stage Manager, Stage Carpenter, Grocer, Greengrocer, Jazz Musician, Teapot, Wine and Beer-Bottle, Trumpet, Trombone and Bugle Player, European Travel Guide, Founder of Several Clay/Art/Craft Organizations, Alchemist, Geologist, Primatologist, Linguist, Ornithologist, Botanist, Ceramic Historian, Educator, Author, Garden Designer, Lecturer on Japanese Garden Design, Laborer and Star of Stage, Screen and Potter’s Wheel!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

SLIP-SLIDIN'- AWAY!



WEDNESDAY,  22 FEBRUARY 2012


I FORGOT THAT I WAS GOING TO TALK ABOUT DECORATING SLIPS ON MONDAY LAST, MEA CULPA! PART OF THE AGGRESSIVELY NEGATIVE AGING PROCESS!  SO HERE IT COMES.



ENGLISH SLIPWARE 18TH CENTURY STAFFORDSHIRE


18TH C. ENGLISH TRAILED SLIPWARE - HARLOW


I STARTED WORKING IN LOW-FIRE SLIPWARE ABOUT HALF A CENTURY AGO BECAUSE IT WAS A NICE MATCH FOR MY DRAWING AND PAINTING SKILLS. I LOVED ALL THE TRADITIONAL FORMATS OF WORKING THIS WAY THAT I SHOWED LAST WEEK. IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY, SLIP DECORATED EARTHENWARE WAS THE NORM IN ARTISTIC CERAMICS. IN BOTH EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICAN CERAMICS WITH COMPANIES SUCH AS MOORCROFT, ROSEVILLE AND ROOKWOOD. THERE WERE ALSO SOME CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS WHO WERE MAKING NEW STRIDES IN A VERY OLD CERAMIC PROCESS. PABLO PICASSO,  SAM HAILE AND AND FREDERICK HURTEN RHEAD WERE LEADERS OF THE PACK OF ARTISTS ADOPTING AND ADAPTING THE SLIPWARE PROCESSES FOR PAINTERLY EXPRESSION. FOR GRAPHICALLY-ORIENTED CERAMIC ARTISTS, THEY OFFER MUCH POTENTIAL.



19TH C. ENGLISH SLIPWARE - 
SGRAFFITO - BIDEFORD HARVEST JUG - NORTH DEVON





THOMAS SAMUEL HAILE - ENGLAND 1946


I ONLY WORKED WITH TRADITIONAL SLIPWARE FOR A SHORT TIME IN ENGLAND, JUST ENOUGH TIME TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH ALL THE METHODS OF DOING IT BUT NOT ENOUGH TO BE TOTALLY SUCKED INTO ITS CHARMS. BEFORE LEAVING ENGLAND, I STARTED TO WORK IN PORCELAIN AND DEVELOPED A SLIPWARE/PORCELAIN HYBRID WAY OF WORKING THAT SUITED MY SKILLS PERFECTLY. I BECAME, SO I'M TOLD, THE SECOND POTTER IN CANADA TO WORK IN PORCELAIN.  THE FIRST WAS FRANCINE DEL PIERRE FROM MONTREAL. IT IS NOT IN MY NATURE TO COPY HISTORICAL OR CONTEMPORARY STYLES, BUT ADAPTATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS ARE CERTAINLY PART OF THE WAY THAT I APPROACH MY WORK. MY METHODOLOGY IS TO THOROUGHLY LEARN THE TRADITIONAL PROCESSES, BY COPIOUS TESTING AND TRIAL AND ERROR EXPERIMENTATION. THEN I TRY AS MANY VARIATIONS AS I CAN THINK OF UNTIL I FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH MY HYBRID. IT GENERALLY PRODUCES A NEW AND INDIVIDUAL STATEMENT OF WORK RATHER THAN FORMING A CLONE. THE TRADITIONAL VARIANTS ARE COMBING, FEATHERING, DOTTING, MARBLING, MOCHA DIFFUSIONS,  SGRAFFITO  AND COMBINATIONS OF THESE.




PORTRAIT MUG - ROOKWOOD POTTERY
19TH C.  AMERICAN



MOORCROFT POTTERY - ENGLAND
EARLY 20TH CENTURY


TO WORK EFFICIENTLY WITH SLIPS, YOU NEED TO FIND ONE OR MORE THAT WORKS FOR YOU RATHER THAN AGAINST YOU! I HAVE DEVELOPED AND WORKED WITH LITERALLY HUNDREDS. WHEN I AM TRAVELING AND TEACHING SLIPWARE, AS WELL AS WORKING IN MY OWN STUDIO, I ALWAYS COME BACK TO WHAT I CALL ROBIN'S UBIQUITOUS SLIP.  A SIMPLE RECIPE, IT WORKS EVERYWHERE I HAVE BEEN, ON ANY CLAY FROM CONE 04 TO CONE 12. IT IS NORMALLY CREAMY WHITE, BUT CAN HAVE COLORANTS. STAINS AND OPACIFIERS ADDED. IT CAN EASILY BE MADE NTO A CASTING SLIP FOR BETTER DRAWING POTENTIAL. THIS IS ALSO PARTICULARLY GOOD FOR MOCHA DIFFUSIONS (MD). ALL CLAYS ARE PRIMARILY ALKALINE IN NATURE. WITH MD A MILD ACID (I PREFER ORGANIC APPLE CIDER VINEGAR) IS MIXED WITH COLORANTS AND /OR OPACIFIERS AND DRIPPED INTO THE SLIP FROM THE TIP OF A CHEAP BRUSH.

ROBIN'S UBIQUITOUS SLIP
ANY BALL CLAY                               75
ANY KAOLIN                                      10
SILICA                                                  10
ANY FELDSPAR                                   5
TOTAL                                                100

TO DEFLOCCULATE THIS SLIP SO THAT IT BECOMES FLUID WITH LESS WATER. ADD 1% SODIUM SILICATE AND/OR 1% SODA ASH

THERE ARE MANY VARIETIES OF SLIP TRAILER.  THE ONES I LIKE BEST ARE RUBBER BULB TYPE CHILDREN'S ENEMA BOTTLES WITH DETACHABLE TIPS, OR BULB TRAILER SETS WITH VARIABLE SIZED TIPS FROM TUCKER'S CERAMIC SUPPLIES, ONTARIO, CANADA






"GREYBIRD" 2011 - RH - PORCELAIN SLIPWARE




MICHAEL CARDEW - SLIPWARE CIDER JAR - ENGLAND 1935


                                              

MICHAEL CARDEW - SLIPWARE JUG - ENGLAND 1970





HAVE FUN! 

 BACK ON FRIDAY WITH "THE MATERIALS GUY!"






































3 comments:

  1. Slipware making is fun...but hard work. I like the ware from Weatheriggs, but don't forget the Welsh potteries too, Buckley, Ewenny being the most well known places. Adrian Childs was also a good 20th century slipware potter at Ffestiniog Pottery.

    ReplyDelete
  2. THANKS FOR THE INFO. CAN'T SAY THAT I'VE BEEN AWARE OF THE WELSH CONTINGENT. MY FORAYS TO THE LAND OF SONG AND COAL HAVE BEEN FEW. OBVIOUSLY I HAVE BEEN REMISS IN MY RESEARCH. HAVE YOU SEEN THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY SLIPWARES FROM SWEDEN AND DENMARK. I CAN'T REMEMBER THEM SCANDINAVIAN NAMES, BUT THERE WER SOME REAL STRONG SLIPPERS. BEST, R.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I recently started using the above slip recipe and I like it a lot.
    Thanks, Vinod

    ReplyDelete