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Akira Satake Kohiki Slip Work (From Going Price Of A Mug)


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Thanks Bruce, terrific post!

 

Question for you, how would you say the pots in this link are done?http://sophiaclayart.squarespace.com/shop/

Her work is thrown. I'm guessing different coloured slips over red clay then scraped off with a wire brush, notched metal rib or something similar then some oxides brushed/dabbed on???

 

Very nice work.  Looks like a white slip over dark body, with slip scrapped with various tools, then brushed with oxides (looks like rutile) and underglaze.  You can use an xacto knife to make some cuts in the slip and even peel them back to give a birch bark appearance.  Slips could be built up, several layers of a thin slip.  All slip work and underglaze/oxides done at greenware stage.  Appears to be gas fired, not electric.  A good example (but handbuilt, not wheel thrown) is Eric Serritella  http://ericserritella.com/eric/  .  Another hands-on workshop I can highly recommend.

 

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Love your work Bruce!  But I like the look of Birch trees, to begin with, so I may be a bit biased...

 

Key word is look of birch trees. I have 3 birch trees in my yard. The bark is beautiful. However the actual birch tree is the biggest pain in the butt. It drops leaves year round, along with the leaves you get nice limbs that fall off near winter. The tree loses like 50-60% of its little limbs, and they don't all drop real quick. I go out and pickup limbs and rake leaves almost every day. This morning I picked up over 20 limbs. Freaking birch trees. I am going to eventually cut them down, or sell this house! ahahha

 

anyways, beautiful work!

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Thanks Bruce, nice to hear someone else has thoughts along the lines that I did. Now to just find the time to start experimenting. I've been wanting to break away from the type of work I've been doing for years, hopefully you have just kickstarted it  :)

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Doing these types of surface treatments has really taught me patience.  You really do end up working at the clay's pace/readiness, not yours.  And, for Akira's kohiki slabs, I've mostly given up thinking ahead of time what the slab will be made into as the stretching process reshapes the slab; sometimes you get these really rolling edges that beg to be the lip of a vase, while other times the edges are just plain and boring to look at -- those become boxes. 

 

In our workshop, Eric Serritella said he looked at birch bark but did not use birch bark as a model -- rather, he made his view of birch bark.  The trick is in the details -- using a wire brush to make small marks similar to insect borings in the bark, using a knife to peel back some bark.  I used leather strips for my basket handles; he makes his leather strips from clay -- he carries a couple of rings of clay blends he's made from blending two different clay bodies to come up with different "wood" colors.  And, he will spend 4+ months working on a single teapot or vessel.  That is patience to the nth degree.
 

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Love your work Bruce!  But I like the look of Birch trees, to begin with, so I may be a bit biased...

 

 

Key word is look of birch trees. I have 3 birch trees in my yard. The bark is beautiful. However the actual birch tree is the biggest pain in the butt. It drops leaves year round, along with the leaves you get nice limbs that fall off near winter. The tree loses like 50-60% of its little limbs, and they don't all drop real quick. I go out and pickup limbs and rake leaves almost every day. This morning I picked up over 20 limbs. Freaking birch trees. I am going to eventually cut them down, or sell this house! ahahha

 

anyways, beautiful work!

You see "chore," I see firewood and kindling. Sounds like you need a wood stove or fireplace or wood fired kiln to use it up! :)
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Doing these types of surface treatments has really taught me patience.  You really do end up working at the clay's pace/readiness, not yours.  And, for Akira's kohiki slabs, I've mostly given up thinking ahead of time what the slab will be made into as the stretching process reshapes the slab; sometimes you get these really rolling edges that beg to be the lip of a vase, while other times the edges are just plain and boring to look at -- those become boxes. 

 

In our workshop, Eric Serritella said he looked at birch bark but did not use birch bark as a model -- rather, he made his view of birch bark.  The trick is in the details -- using a wire brush to make small marks similar to insect borings in the bark, using a knife to peel back some bark.  I used leather strips for my basket handles; he makes his leather strips from clay -- he carries a couple of rings of clay blends he's made from blending two different clay bodies to come up with different "wood" colors.  And, he will spend 4+ months working on a single teapot or vessel.  That is patience to the nth degree.

 

Thank you for your detailed post - I could picture every step as you described it. Beautiful work!
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Love your work Bruce!  But I like the look of Birch trees, to begin with, so I may be a bit biased...

 

Key word is look of birch trees. I have 3 birch trees in my yard. The bark is beautiful. However the actual birch tree is the biggest pain in the butt. It drops leaves year round, along with the leaves you get nice limbs that fall off near winter. The tree loses like 50-60% of its little limbs, and they don't all drop real quick. I go out and pickup limbs and rake leaves almost every day. This morning I picked up over 20 limbs. Freaking birch trees. I am going to eventually cut them down, or sell this house! ahahha

 

anyways, beautiful work!

You see "chore," I see firewood and kindling. Sounds like you need a wood stove or fireplace or wood fired kiln to use it up! :)

 

 

Whats funny is I have a huge pile of limbs for kindling on my sheds porch in the back yard. If I pile up anymore its gonna be come a nest for animals. 

 

I used to run a wood stove all my young life. Nothing like waking up at 4 in the morning to load some more wood into the stove. Fun times! 

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The Akira technique is a very specific technique, but as a generality, I'm really enjoying working with slip these days.

 

The thing I like most about it is that it gives you so much control over surface.  Slip applied to leatherhard clay can be manipulated so easily and in so many ways.  For example, one of the oft-repeated queries here is how to make a clean line between a liner glaze and an outside glaze.  If you get your color from slip, it's easy to dip or spray the slip on the outside, and then sponge it off along the rim and inside.  Then you can use a single glaze to get that sharp demarcation.  I also like to comb through wet slip, or carve through set slip.  Lately I've been spraying on several layers of slip in different colors.

 

I've worked out other ways to get richer effects from slip.  I have a deep blue slip that contains fairly high amounts of titania.  When used with glazes that are on the edge of matteness and slow-cooled, the underlying slip affects the glaze enough that the surface over the slip will go matte while the rest of the glaze remains shiny.

 

Anyway, I think slip is a very useful material and probably should be in every potter's skill set.

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I just signed up for his workshop in my area! I was browsing his website and saw he had a workshop in GA this August, it's only 50 minutes from my house! The workshop is only $165 for Saturday(29th) and Sunday(30th)! 

 

http://www.ocaf.com/images/stories/Perspectives/2015Perspectives/p15workshopflyer.pdf

 

I am super excited, first time ever going to a pottery workshop! If any of you people end up going let me know so I can look for you! 

 

WOo Woo Wooooo.. Can't believe I almost missed this. 

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I have been using slip to decorate vessels.  I just use straight clay.  It could use a lot of improvement.  I'm not sure this recipe is right for me, I don't have the Goldart. Can anyone explain what the advantages of using a slip like this verses just clay as I am doing?

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Thanks for the detailed post BciskePottery! Thats why I love ceramics. With just a few ingredients and techniques one can come up with  infinite possibilities. I'll be in Watkinsville, GA this month taking the workshop with Akira. See you in a few weeks Grype!

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I have been using slip to decorate vessels.  I just use straight clay.  It could use a lot of improvement.  I'm not sure this recipe is right for me, I don't have the Goldart. Can anyone explain what the advantages of using a slip like this verses just clay as I am doing?

 

In my experience, a slip made up from stuff other than clay alone can be easier to work with.  I'm using both slips made up as vitreous slips, and plain porcelain body tinted with oxides and made more vitreous with addition of small amounts of flux.  The latter can have problems with flocculation.

 

There are tons of slip recipes available for all firing ranges.  Make up small samples and test with your body-- you'll soon have something that works well for you.  Ball clay is used in many recipes, so that shrinkage will still match in spite of the non-shrinking substantial additions like feldspar and silica.

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Thanks for the detailed post BciskePottery! Thats why I love ceramics. With just a few ingredients and techniques one can come up with  infinite possibilities. I'll be in Watkinsville, GA this month taking the workshop with Akira. See you in a few weeks Grype!

 

Excited to see you there man. Can't wait for this shop.

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  • 3 years later...
  • 1 year later...
3 hours ago, JDP said:

Hi High Bridge . I am also looking for an alternative to Goldart in the UK. Do you have any advice? Thank you

@JDP Joel (High Bridge) hasn't posted anything since last July.  You might be better to message him.

 

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@JDP I would argue that Goldart is not that important. It is just a plastic, buff stoneware clay. It is similar to a high iron ball clay with slightly less plasticity and larger particle size than ball clay. So you could sub ball clay or half ball clay/half kaolin. What clays do you have available to you?

https://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/goldart_198.html

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