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!

Monday, August 5, 2013

#1 AGATEWARE - NERIAGE - NERIKOMI - ZOUGAN




WORKING WITH LAMINATED and 
COLORED CLAYS

THE INQUISITIVE EYES, EARS AND HANDS OF GUY JUNIOR! 
I think it is a young Rhesus Monkey but I'm not 100% sure! 
Could be a Capuchin Monkey, but I've never seen one at that age.
I Thought those big eyes might get your attention!

CORE SAMPLES - MINERAL SAMPLES TAKIN WITH A HOLLOW DRILL
TO DETERMINE THE MINERAL CONTENT  

 I've never quite understood why Ceramics isn't classified as an offshoot of Geology, since it is almost entirely made up from ground-up or decomposed ROCKS and MINERALS. The more one understands geology, the easier it is to understand ceramic glazes and their diverse behaviour.  

AGATE - A SLICE FROM A GEODE - A COOLING BALL OF MAGMA THAT HAS BEEN THROWN OUT OF AN ERUPTING VOLCANO - QUICK COOLING OF THE CONGEALED EXTERIOR, SLOW COOLING OF THE INTERIOR


MALACHITE - BOILING, COPPER-COLOURED MAGMA IN A STATE OF ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT DUE TO VERY FAST COOLING



WULFENITE - EXTREMELY SLOW COOLING, THREE DIMENSIONAL CRYSTALS OF CHROMIUM

GOETHITE - ROPE-LIKE 3D CRYSTALS -  ALSO DUE TO VERY SLOW COOLING


ROCKS and MINERALS, with their multiple shapes and colors can also be a major generating point for ideas - hence the  development of Agateware and Crystalline glazes.



JAMIE KOWALSKI - CRYSTALLINE GLAZE ON  FLAT PC SUBSTRATE

GORDON HUTCHENS - ALMOST 2 DIMENSIONAL CRYSTALLINE GLAZE ON
FLAT PC SUBSTRATE
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AGATEWARE  is the English term for vari-colored clay that have been layered or laminated like igneous rocks  from the fire of the volcano, or sedimentary and metamorphic rocks that have formed through decomposition and compression.

 It imitates the look of rocks by manipulating
the layered clays in various ways. You can either use natural colored clays, or mix a white clay with coloring oxides and carbonates or body stains. 


RH - SALT-GLAZED PORCELAIN
AGATEWARE
BUD VASE 

IT HELPS TO BE A BIT OF AN
ALCHEMIST







THIS IS GETTING TO BE A LONG POSTING SO I THINK I WILL STOP HERE FOR THE TIME BEING. 

 THIS ONE HAS BEEN ABOUT THE IDEA OR CONCEPT OF LAMINATION. 

  THE NEXT POSTING WILL TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THE PROCESS AND SEE SOME VARIED RESULTS.

 WE HAVE MANY VISITORS THIS MONTH, SO PART #2 WILL PROBABLY TAKE A COUPLE OF WEEKS TO PREPARE.  

 HAPPY READING AND THOUGHTFUL THINKING.

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2 comments:

  1. CyndiAugust 6, 2013 at 7:07 AM

    Good morning, Sir Robin;

    Your posting is timely. I was looking at work by John Shirley. He works with metal salts. Not the same as agate ware, but for some reason, it is bouncing around in my noggin this morning. Thank you for the images and the challenge to actively "see".

    ReplyDelete
  2. smartcatAugust 10, 2013 at 5:49 AM

    This is strange...I've just been showing a nerikomi mug and talking about how it's made! I'm looking forward to the next post.
    When did you become the Great Eastern Wizard of the Sun? It suits you!

    ReplyDelete

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