Catherine Daniel Ceramics

Hello and welcome to my blog where I share some of the thought processes and textile/quilting inspirations behind my ceramic art, and occasionally other random topics!
For more details and pictures of my ceramic creations, please see my website -

catherinedanielceramics.com



Tuesday 23 July 2013

Say it with a Pot

I was asked by the lovely Angie at My Quilting Life to make a quilt bowl for her friend Lyn's big birthday. I had plenty of notice for this one, so I had time to take a few pictures along the way.  I realise now that I should have started clicking way before this first picture, but anyway.

Once I have rolled out the clay slab, measured and impressed the design into the wet clay, pushed the finished slab into a bowl shaped mould, smoothed over the edges with water, made the holes for the thread and button detail (see later), waited three days for the piece to dry out completely, carefully lifted the bone dry piece out of its mould .....  it looks like this!  This is when it is at its most fragile and can break easily - it's the texture of chalk.  So, the utmost care and a prayer is needed when putting this into the kiln, along with other pieces.


Once bisque-fired, the piece comes out like the one below - a creamy white colour, easy to handle, and ready to paint the glazes onto.


The raw glazes bear no resemblance to their actual colour, so this pale pinky one below will fire denim blue. I took this pic with my left hand, so it's a bit blurred.  But yes, I do paint around each little dot!


Then I fill in the other areas with different glaze colours, including a clear glaze over those bits (like the dots above) left white.


And then into the kiln it goes again.  Nothing else must touch it, otherwise the glazes would fuse different pieces together in the kiln, and Angie would not have liked that look!


Around 24 hours later, when the kiln has cooled down, I open it up and take out the finished piece.  As this one was for an avid quilter/needlewoman, I included the thread detail and attached the handmade button. You can just about see how the button was made - by pressing into it a metal sewing machine bobbin.


The flower border was made by impressing into the clay a string of lace daisies.  The waffle/quilty look around the outside is made by rolling an old tea-towel over the wet clay - one of those cheap ones you get off the market.


The block is Double Pinwheels.  The birthday girl loved it.  Angie blogged about it  here, and if you do have a look, you will see Angie's stunningly beautiful needlework and quilting, so do visit if you can.

Well, hope I haven't bored the pants off you all with all the technical details!!

Now off to sit in the rain - bliss!!  Are you cooling off at last too?

x Cathy

13 comments:

  1. Oh wow this is so pretty!!

    Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving me a comment! :)

    Helen
    Blue Eyed beauty Blog
    Exercise Encouragement GROUP Blog

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  2. You are so clever Cathy! Love these pictures - thank you for EVERYTHING!

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  3. This is beautiful, Cathy, she must be very pleased with it. Love to see photos of the potting process, too. And you be careful, my girl, you are becoming a regular blogger! I can't keep up with you! Lxx

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  4. Such beautiful designs and work Cathy. Love the things you create and make.

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  5. What ingenious use of other items to create your textures!

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  6. So lovely, and very kind of you to share your ideas in this way. Your attention to detail is truly amazing

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  7. What a charming, personal gift. I always love seeing the steps that go into a piece. The button is the icing on the cake!

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  8. Im not surprised the birthday girl loved it....its amazing - I particularly liked the laced up embellishment, ali

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  9. It's beautiful - who wouldn't love a gorgeous present like that! Amazing how the glazes look nothing like the finished colour.

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  10. We had five minutes of rain yesterday, about one degree cooler- still over 30 in the shade!
    Lovely pot.

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  11. How could learning more about your art be boring!

    I'm not surprised the birthday girl was happy, it's a truly lovely personal to her piece :D

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  12. Absolutely beautiful and such a special gift! The technical details are really interesting, not boring at all.

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