Cone 6 Covids

Blue, triangular and bumpy surfaced COVID balls

Earlier this month I fired a kiln load with a whole bunch of different items, including bulbs from last summer, planters and mugs with a COVID theme, and a batch of cone 6 glazed COVID balls.

COVID balls underglazed like the original batch

I've been playing around with these COVID balls since December/January of this year. and I've tried out a few different decoration and glaze options, as well as different clay.

Blue and bumpy cone 6 celadon COVID balls

I thought I'd try these ones fired to cone 6. I've been using some cone 6 glazes, mostly celadons for my functional work, but haven't used them much for sculpture (I usually fire my sculpture to low temperatures with layered underglazes).

Martianware COVID ball

For the new year's bulbs, my approach was very much my typical color approach, bright and loud with chartreuse and red. I admit I was also thinking kind of Christmas-y colors, too. 

Underglaze and Mt. St. Helen's glaze COVID ball

When I made more bulbs to order, I kept these same colors but also added some of my Mt. St. Helen's Ash glaze from last spring. The Mt. St. Helen's ash is actually a cone 6 glaze, but I fired it to a lower temperature because that's what I had done last time for the Mt. St. Helen's show.

Martianware clay gives varigated colors, depending on either the drying or firing

After Seattle Pottery came out with their Martianware clay, I made some more COVIDs with that clay to test it out. These are low temperature bulbs because the clay basically glazes itself. 

Green/grey textured cone 6 COVID balls

The cone 6 COVID balls were done to test out a few things. First, in buiding them I was testing out adding little bits of dry or semi-dry clay to the surface of the forms to make a chunky, slightly icky surface texture. I also experimented with triangular bits sticking out from the balls instead of round. The triangles are harder to make, or at least take a bit more concentration.

I think these are probably closest to the famous photo

Part of the reason I wanted to fire these to a higher temperature was because I really like my red cone 6 glaze (Amaco's Deep Firebrick), and partly because I wanted the base glaze to have a little more variation to highlight the textures I'd added. The most familiar COVID image that we've all seen everywhere for the past year and a half is grey and red with orange, though I remembered it as blue and red. With this batch, I used light blue, dark green, and grey glazes to try out a few different options.

all the COVID balls in this post are looking for new homes, if you are interested

I don't know if I've decided which ones I prefer. I enjoyed the process of trying out the various options and I still have a batch waiting to be glazed and fired. I also just pulled the last three of the Martianware pieces out of the kiln yesterday. These ones sat around longer and at first glance the surface is different, too. I'll have to take some time to compare more closely. 

Martianware COVIDS

I think I'll be doing a show in September and I expect to have most of this stuff available then. If you need a COVID ball now, let me know.

Mars (Martianware) clay, finally fired

Mars clay bulbs with small impressions (left) and flower stamp impressions (right)

I finally got around to firing some of the pieces I made last month with the new Martianware clay. In fact, I fired them a while ago and only just got around to taking pictures this weekend after my most recent glaze firing was completed.

Salty Mars covids and bulbs before firing

Since I wasn't sure about the clay, I didn't make a lot of items with it. Then, before firing I got concerned about the salts damagining my kiln walls or elements. The soluble salts show up on the oustside of the forms as the clay dries, and they also act like glaze mixed into the clay, creating the unusually texture surface. Firing a salt kiln can be hard on the walls and the elements. Though this was clearly a lot less salt than a salt kiln, I decided to play it safe and make some saggars in which to fire the work.

Saggars after firing

I threw and slab-built four saggars which I can reuse in future. Being extra cautious, I also fired the pieces on stilts which was probably unecessary, as it turned out. Based on how the saggars look inside after firing, I'm guessing these were unecessary, too. The floors of the saggars have a bit of spitting, little freckles of color, but the tops look just like the outsides, no damage.

 

Interior of a thrown saggar with salt speckling from the Mars clay

I fired the pieces in a bisque firing with a bunch of other greenware. This Martianware clay isn't supposed to get too hot. This bisque was cone 06 and fairly full. The Martianware ceramic surfaces have varied colors ranging from brown to red and a rough, crumbly texture. I can't tell how much their location during firing or drying or their building techniques impacted the colors, so I'll have to pay closer attention next time.

Mars clay Covid Balls

The surfaces feel crumbly, as is evident in some of the pictures where there are little dustings of crumbs that I didn't brush away. The bits that do flake off don't stain my photo paper and removing them from the surface doesn't seem to impact the colors of the original form. I haven't tried scrubbing these pieces yet, but they feel like raku work that needs to have the ash washed off.

Mars clay bulb (other side)

 

For a few of the pieces, I mixed the Martianware clay with my regular pugged reclaim and the result was underwhelming. Theese pieces just look like a bit of terracott has gotten into or onto the regular clay which looks white after bisque.

Mars and reclaimed clay Covid balls after bisque

In one case, as a test, I glazed the rest of the form (the part made of reclaimed clay) and left the inset Martainware clay circles unglazed. I then fired the piece to cone 6. As expected, the clay fluxed and bubbled a bit. I knew the clay wasn't designed for this temperature, but I was just curious what would happen. 

The black dots are actually the Mars clay fired to cone 6. The lines and yellow surface are glazed

I made COVID balls and Ericano bulbs out of the the Martinaware clay. On the COVID balls, I didn't do much to the surface, relying on the clay itself to create texture. For the bulbs I tried a few different things: sprigs, impressed stamps and a texture roller/stamp. The impressions look pretty similar after firing, as the clay sort of takes over and obscures the texture. The sprig additions are easier to see on one side than the other, based on the clay color and how it shows up differently in the higher and lower areas.

The front and back sides of the sprigged bulb made with Mars clay

The clay is fun, but working with something like this requires a really different planning process, especially for someone who is used to focusing on texture and color. I could see this clay working well for the darker, moodier work I did for my politics bulbs series, but I'd have to think about what can and cannot show up as far as texture. This clay could lend a gritty feel, but it could also obscured what I want to show. And, honestly, I've felt a bit exhausted in thinking about this work lately. 

Mars Covid ball

This past week I was a bit disappointed in my kiln results, which tends to be opposite of a motivator. But while I was photographing the work I realized that I had quite a bit of work. Some of it disappointing, but at least I've been making. Some loads are like that.

Mars Clay

Martianware Covid balls the day after they were made

If you're a fan of space exploration, the most recent Mars rover, or clay, you might have heard that Seattle Pottery has made and is selling "Martianware" clay, a clay based on the chemical composition of soil on Mars. The idea is that if Mars had clay, this is what it would be like. Or maybe the idea is that people doing pottery think this would be amusing.

A freshly made Covid ball next to ones made yesterday.

As a potter, I found this amusing. If only to delight the 12-year old version of me, I bought some of this clay to play with. The wet color and even the texture does remind me of the surface of Mars that I made in elementary school for a science fair, though that was made of plaster and paint, I believe (and later was turned into a toy golf course after it sat in the basement for a while).

A freshly press molded bulb after being smoothed with a rib.

The clay is a low-fire, self-glazing clay, a bit like Egyptian faience. The materials in the clay include soluble salts inside the clay body. These salts react during the firing to form a glaze without needing to add glaze to the surface of the clay. This is similar to salt firing, where salt is added to the kiln during the firing. The salt adheres to and reacts with the surface of the clay, creating a slightly bumpy glazed surface.  

A bit of salt inside the raw clay

The clay feels very strange to work with. I only bought a small amount and this weekend I made some of my Covid balls shapes with it, as well as a couple of press-molded bulb forms. The clay is stiff and tends to want to crack, though it can be smoothed. It's work-able, but certainly not the most pleasant clay I've used. As I was cutting into my small block of clay, I encoutered several fairly large chunks of salt inside the clay block. I assume these pieces of crystalized salt had developed between when the clay was mixed and when I worked this it. I was easily able to crush the pieces, but they were large enough that I jsut removed them from the clay I was building with.

A press molded bulb resisting removal from the mold

It was fairly easy to build the hollow forms, but the clay did not want to be press-molded. Usually I can press clay into my plaster mold, leave it for 20 minutes and it just pops out. Though this clay already felt drier than usual when I put it in the mold, I couldn't get it out of the mold until the next day. After I tried it, I started wondering whether the salt of this clay was actually bad for the plaster of the mold. 
 

Thrown saggars for firing

I'm also slightly concerned about the elements in my kiln. Salt firing is only done in hard brick kilns fired by gas or wood because the firing process destroys electric elements and the soft bricks of most electric kilns. In fact, firing a non-salt firing in a kiln normally used for salt firing may yeild strange results, as the bricks themselves contain residual salt. For this reason, I also threw some containers to use as saggars, ceramic boxes to contain the clay. Firing the pieces in saggars should protect the kiln from the worst of the salt, but I think I'll double check Seattle Pottery's recommendations before firing, regardless.

Martianware Covid balls drying

The immediate change in the clay is interesting. I made some of the pieces last night and already this morning they've developed a salty fur over their surfaces. The salt is growing on the surface of the clay. It looks a bit like mold, but feels brittle and crumbly. 

my studio assistant was recently asked not to walk on my wet teacups

As I've gotten into the sudio fairly regularly over the last few weeks, its looking like I'll have a chance to fire fairly soon. Yesterday I mopped and cleaned all the tables, cabinets, bats, and my mixer. It's amazing how good it feels to work in a freshly cleaned studio.

Throwing with Newly Pugged Clay

planter with COVID-like bumps (in progress)

I'm pretty excited about this: I got into the studio a few days over the last few weeks! Incredibly, this is the first time I've gotten to throw with pugged clay (even though I got the pug mill in December!)

extruded mugs made with the pug mill extruder

 

Over the 8-day spring break (Monday through Tuesday this year), I was able to get into the studio to clean, glaze, and pack some pieces for shipping. The stuff I was glazing included a lot of pieces that I had made for student demos during Winter quarter, as well as some mugs I had made testing out the extruder on my pug mill. 

Cone 6 glazed stuff from Winter

Most of the work I made for class demos was done with my recycled pugged clay from home, which I was able to test to check that it can be fired to cone 6. I haven't been using this batch of cone 6 glazes much, especially for layering with sculptures, so I consider these tests of this application approach with these glazes.

low fire glazed sculpture from ??

I also finally glazed this sculpture that's been hanging around for maybe a year. This is a low fire body (at least I think it is). This piece has underglazes on it and has been through at least a couple of firings already. It will be nice to finally finish it.  In fact, getting through my whole backlog of unfinished work felt like a nice way to start the break/spring quarter.

COVID balls from spring break

I also made some new covid bulbs. I wanted to experiment with adding some texture, using some different glazes and trying out slightly different shapes for the bits that stick out. The round attachments are much easier and more pleasant to make, but I tried some triangular shapes to more closely match the familiar COVID image that we're all used to.

thrown mugs (in progress)

I threw a bit this week with my newly pugged clay. It throws really nicely--what a difference from the merely wedged clay--even though it isn't actually a throwing body. I did have to pick out some tiny acorns, which tells you about my inconsistent previous process for clay recycling. 

planter and mugs (in progress)

I hadn't thrown in 6 months, since I'm not teaching a wheel class anymore (the wheel doesn't translate to online as well as some other classes and media). This long time of not throwing feels very strange, so it was nice to get back on the wheel, if only in the brief time between class and dinner. I threw a few mugs and a couple of small planters. (Gallery One is having a planter fundraiser and I'm half thinking that I might have these ready for that.) 

last summer's COVID mug

The idea for these mugs/planters is to add some COVID-like decoration. I like the mug I made last year, but its fairly fragile (and awkward), so I reduced the depth of both the balls and the attachments. As with any new idea, I think my execution is intermediate right now; I'm not totally happy with what I've got. Next time I throw these, I'll space the bumps a little differently. I'm also considering using the triangle attachments instead of the round, though they aren't quite where I'd like them to be yet.

Covid Bulbs, Again

 

Covid balls from this last firing

In January I posted some Covid balls I made for New Year's gifts. A few friends requested their own, and I got right on making them (really! I sculpted the covids within a week or two), but it took me over 2 months to actually fire them. 

Covid balls partly glazed

 

I made about a dozen of these guys the second time around but was waiting until I finished some other work to get them fired. 

The most recent covid balls, before their strings and directions were attached

As it is wont to do, teaching kept getting in the way of finishing stuff, but I was eventually able to finish glazing some face bulbs from summer and a bunch of odds and ends that I made as demos for classes.

Some face bulbs from last summer

As I was glazing this batch weeks and weeks after making them, I got thinking it would be fun to use some Mt. St. Helen's Ash glaze to add some depth and texture to the ball. (I'd like to add some dimension to the bulbs too, but I made the first batch in a bit of a rush and the second to fulfill orders, so I figure I have room to experiment on the next batch.

Mt. St. Helens Boxes from last spring

The Mt. St. Helen's glaze comes from the set of boxes I made last year for the Mt. St. Helen's 40th Anniversary show at Boxx Gallery. I had some extra glaze leftover from that show. As I underfired it last time and was firing the covids to the same temperature, I figured it would work out ok.

Covid ball with ash glaze

I'm pretty happy with the texture that's been added to the green. But I wish I had mixed the low and higher fire glazes together a bit more like I did in the Mt. St. Helen's boxes, so I might do that next time.

Mt. St. Helens steam vent with ash glaze

Honestly, I forgot that I wanted to try the ash glaze until the last moment. At that point I had already added the red. When I got the ash on the red, I thought, no big deal, I'll see what happens, which means that some of the red parts that have the ash on them look a bit like they have a spill on them. 

Covid with ash glaze on red and green

But, to my suprise, no sooner had a posted pictures of the loaded kiln and fired work on social media, than I had sold nearly all of the covids. After I get these shipped or delivered, I'll be able to put the funds to good use: working from home makes me realize how much I miss the small photo booth setup at YVC. 

The small photo setup at YVC, a few years ago

At home I have a photo set up, but its really designed for big stuff. The small one at school can stay up all the time and is just the size I need for taking little photos like these (without setting up the table, backdrop, tripods, etc. And now that I'm working in this lovely remodeled home studio, I have space for it, too!

My home photo setup a few years ago

Next week is finals week at YVC. For once I've got my part of the studio kit stuff done (mostly done), I'll be teaching the same online studio classes next quarter. The online clay class, this second time around, went a lot smoother than when I taught it with zero prep time in Fall, so I don't anticipate having to spend spring break remaking it. All that to say, that with just over a week left to go, I'm really excited about getting into my studio during spring break!

My four ash Covids

New Year's Covid Balls

this COVID ball is not an ornament

In December I made a bunch of these COVID balls as gifts. Though they look like ornaments, that's not exactly what they are. They aren't meant to be decorative, or at least not primarily decorative.

COVID Balls with directions attached

Each COVID ball comes with instructions: 

Directions: If your 2020 has sucked, use this COVID Ball to capture and expel all the suck at the end of this year. 

1. Find the hole in the COVID Ball. Whisper all the awful things from this year into this hole. Don’t worry, whispers are small, so the ball can hold a lot. If you need to scream, the COVID ball has an automatic scream-compressor installed to be sure you can fit all your rage at 2020 inside. 

2. Once you have filled up the COVID Ball with all the yuck of 2020, find a safe space (maybe a cardboard box outside--if you are under 13, please discuss with your parents).

3. Throw the ball as hard as you can at the ground (or the interior of the cardboard box). You may choose to smash it with a hammer or other implement if you prefer. The force of the COVID ball breaking will create an interdimensional wormhole into which all the range and yuck of 2020 will be sucked, leaving only good feelings for the year 2021.

The hole

One of my friends, when she received the COVID ball, said her first reaction was to smash it, so the idea is sound. I came up with the idea this summer, in part because of the frustration that everyone feels with the pandemic and the stay at home order, and in part because I observed (and remembered) the fun of the violence and physical release that comes with smashing ceramics.

smashed ceramics this summer

In college, the clay studio had a protected kiln yard that was outside but fenced in. Next to the raku firing area was a huge pile of shards against the building wall. I can't remember if there was a literal target painted on the wall, but I do remember that the reason for the shard pile against the wall was clear: If your pot or sculpture didn't work, you threw it against the wall. And it helped.

we used a box so that we weren't cleaning up bits of sharp ceramics from the sidewalk for days

This summer, when I was clearing out stuff from my new studio, I had some work that was broken or jsut not great. I was going to throw it away, but my daughter was playing outside (with masks) with the neighbor girls, so I decided to let them have some fun. I put the pieces in a box and gave the girls a hammer and let them go to town.

bisque fired COVID balls awaiting glaze

I hadn't exactly forgotten about making these during the summer and fall, but something happened to a friend in December that reinforced my motivation as I pictured her pouring her frustrations into the ball and then smashing.

Glaze fired COVID balls awaiting directions

I really enjoyed making the COVID balls, even though I didn't start until the second week of the quarter (when I got my pug mill and my reclaim clay was super soft and nice). The forms are pretty familiar to me, as I made many similar forms in graduate school and for my MFA show. I suppose I haven't made exactly this in quite a while, but making them felt like home.

Work from my MFA show in 2006

I honestly made these with the idea that folks would smash them. As I made them, I had several people in mind, including my nieces and nephew who've experienced this pandemic from a different perspective than have adults and might be more willing to smash things. But I also knew that people might really want to smash these with a hammer (even if it might feel good), so I added alternate directions that might make people feel ok with their urge to keep the COVID ball.

Alternate Directions: If your 2020 has been excellent, I suppose you can hang this up as a memento of the year. If you choose to combine the alternate directions with step 1 of the regular directions, the scream-compressor also works as a rage and yuck magnet to hold the negativity inside, preventing it from escaping into next year.

The balls on the bottom have some chunky old bits of underglaze on them

It's interesting, though, to make something with the intention that it be destroyed. I chose my colors to be loud and garish, and maybe a bit gross, too. I used some chartreuse underglaze, but mixed in some other scrap greens. In fact, on a few of the pieces the underglaze was chunky and instead of fixing it, I painted on the chunks. After I took the pieces out of the kiln, I realized that those chunks of underglaze made a gross kind of rough surface that really seemed appropriate for the diseased forms themselves.

COVID Balls with directions awaiting packing

I also thought seriously about trying to make a batch of these to sell for Christmas/New Year's gifts. As it was, I made about 26 of these as gifts for close friends and family and that was plenty. However, I enjoyed making them, so maybe I'll take orders or plan to make some for later in the year or next winter. I'd love to think that by December of next year we'll all be past the pandemic and not in need of cathardic destruction, but as far as I can understand, we'll only be getting to an end-point in late fall if all goes well. And as much as we'd like to feel otherwise at the start of the year, 2021 is going to feel a lot like 2020 for some time.