Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Class 24

Dear Students
The last bisque firing for the semester will be this Sunday at 9am. Please have your work out for firing on the shelves. If the work does not fit on the shelves, text me to let me know where it is.

Thursday is cleaning day. If you are absent, your final grade will be lowered one grade.
Sincerely,
Professor Urrutia

Friday, November 9, 2018

Class 23_Homework_November 8th

Dear Class
To prepare for final, all green ware work needs to be out on the shelves drying by this Sunday, November 11th. If you do not meet this deadline, you will likely not have glazed work for final. Please remember that this will mean that you will not have photos of your completed work to turn in for a grade which will affect your performance in the course considerably. 

As soon as you have work that comes out of the kiln, make sure you glaze it and get it back on the shelves with a note that states the firing temperature for the glaze [6] and wads glued to prop it off the shelves. Your carve-out, silhouette, and biomorphic work should be glazed immediately!


Homework
Mix Up [3] Glazes Using a Recipe - link to glazes
In class you were assigned a number [Justin you are 7, Alex you are 8]. Please use that number to identify the glazes you are supposed to make for homework. All numbers of the glazes in the Google folder have a zero before them. For instance, if your number is 3, the glazes assigned to you will be 03 [Fig.1]. 

Please notice the number and that [2] of these glazes will need a colorant added
Fig.1

In addition, there was some question as to what glazes needed to have an oxide or stain added to them. I fixed this problem by putting ADD in the title of the file [Fig.1]. So, please make a note of the titles of each file assigned to you so you know for sure which glazes need a colorant added.
Figure 2
Figure 2 is another special case. This glaze has color addition suggested in the glaze recipe. If this is your glaze, you can ignore the color suggested in the title and use one of the glaze oxide additions on the sheet I gave you, but the color that results will be different. As I mentioned in class, we do not necessarily have any of the specific stains listed in any recipe, but I could make a peachy-yellow if I used stains that look peachy-yellow in the powder stain drawer. After finding stains that I think will work, I would just match the colors I found to the increments in the recipe and add the colors accordingly AND IN EITHER CASE, I would make a note of what I am putting in ON THE CONTAINER in exact amounts so my results could be repeated.  I would also make note of what I am doing, and keep any recipes that I use, in the glaze note section of the binder. By doing this, I can make this recipe again wherever I go in the world as I will know what I need to add to make it. 
Figure 3
In Figure 3 you will notice the recipe asks you to 'use the same glaze base as for Polseno Peach'. This means that you will make another container of that glaze and add ingredients to make it look 'terracotta'. You could also ignore the color implied in the title and go your way with one of the oxides on the sheet if you like as long as you make a note of doing so ON THE CONTAINER!

Figure 4
Figure 4 is the AddColorant file. This was passed out in class and I told you to cross out things and that Yellow Iron Oxide is just yellow ochre. If you lost your sheet you can get a copy, but you will have to find another student with the notes I gave you in class to replace them. You will only add one of these to any glaze you make.

Unfortunately, if you missed this class, you need to work with another student who was present or you will RUIN EVERYTHING IN THE GLAZE STUDIO! This is serious business and everyone's actions have very immediate consequences when it comes to glaze materials, so please do not 'guess'. As always, you can text me and I will do my best to guide you, but I will be out of town this weekend so we will have to work by phone.

Just a few last minute reminders:
*All glazes you mix up should be in grams and you should have 300 grams of powder in your containers when we meet on Tuesday
*Everything needs to be labeled according to the directions in class. In short, print your labels out and laminate them to the surface of the container. The lid should also be labeled. 
*Make sure you have cone 6 on every container of glaze you make. Do this by drawing a triangle and a '6'.
*Use the papers and the triple beam scale to measure out small amounts. It is not possible to make small measurements on the digital scales
* DO NOT add water to your glaze powders. We will do this at the beginning of class on Tuesday.
*Please take care of the scales as we do not have the money to buy any more of these:(

REMEMBER if you do not measure out your glaze materials, the rest of the class will have fewer glaze choices to work with. There is no more time to put things off. Please be a good peer and do your work!

Sincerely,
Professor Urrutia

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Class22_Homework_Nobember 6th

Dear Students
The last class will be the week you come back from Thanksgiving break. PLEASE get all of your work finished and dried so that it can be glazed. Additionally, please do the following for homework by next class. 

FINISH ALL EXERCISES AND FINAL PROJECTS
Finish any work that you need to have fired this semester and get it out on the firing shelves. If it needs to be fired in a certain way or if you would like to be there to put it into the kiln, please leave your contact info on a small sheet of paper. If you cannot be reached, your work may be handled and loaded anyway. Remember, no one but you will care more about how that works goes into the kiln.

CARVE OUT - APPLY GLAZE
Please apply Iron wash and McDermott's surprise to the surface of your Carve-out form according to the demonstration in class. Refer to your notes for details.

SILHOUETTE - APPLY GLAZE
Please apply Kitten's Clear to the entire silhouette form according to the demonstration in class. Remember that you work must be stilted using glue and wads of clay or it will not get fired. Refer to your notes for details.

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Class 21_Homework_November 1st

Dear Students
This is the last week to build anything new in wet clay. Please get all your pieces constructed by the established deadline. If you do not meet my deadline you will probably not finish the work for the course. At this time every year, some people feel the need to 'take' a bunch of clay to their dwelling to work on things beyond the deadline. Instead, please do your work here at school as I do NOT want a bunch of solid, hard pieces of clay brought back to me once the semester is over as these giant pieces are terrible to slake back down into usable clay. Please, don't be that guy!!!

From next week forward, we will be doing glaze work and writing. Any last minute details you have to do on your work can be done on your own time outside of class as homework. Please be prepared to work on glaze and writing by having any research connected the final pieces that you have made with you. Additionally, please have your mask and your gloves. You will be taking lots of notes, mixing up glaze recipes and otherwise preparing to finish all work for the semester. 

Have a productive weekend!
Sincerely,
Professor Urrutia