stephsteph

This was very cool. I'm glad you shared it. Thanks.  I am going to check out teachinart.com.

Anyone interested to learn more about Marcia Selsor, can follow this link:
 
 

Raven's Nest gallery is hosting a one day exhibit of Sculpture and Tile by Stephani Stephenson. this event takes place on July 26, 2016, during the week of the Silver city Clay Festival. The gallery will be open regular business hours and hold an Artist's reception that evening, during Festival Gallery night. . This is the Raven's Nest's  last hurrah in Silver City
Stephenson will be bringing new sculpture and a 'trunk show' assortment of tile.
See you there!
 
Raven's Nest, 
201 North Bullard Street,
Silver City, New Mexico
 
 intersection of Bullard and Broadway, in downtown Silver City
Ground floor of the Palace Hotel building.

These will be hand sculpted with moderate detail, Douglas Fey Pottery has some fantastic corbel designs that are on the same level of detail . I was thinking that these would be sculpted on the thicker side and was shocked to see you would go to 3/4" to 1 1/2" thick. The extra thickness would make things easier from a sculptors point of view. Thank you! When I work with paper clay things have to be thinner most of the time.
 
I was going to try Standards 547 clay, It sounds like a good choice, but I'll be up around Ravenna, Kent, Akron Ohio next and they have a Laguna clay supplier. I may try the East coast version of Red Sculpture clay or see if they carry something with a little less grog.
  Laguna Clay is looking a little more appealing as it is about half the price. Standard becomes a little more competitive when you buy by the ton.
If I fall in love with sculpting terracotta, Standards 547 is on my list.
 
I'm really looking forward to this and cant wait to try something new.

a lot of architectural work is thicker than you would normally see for a pot..with walls maybe 3/4 - 1.5 inches thick/. generally i keep mine at 3/4 inch and i use a clay body with a lot of grog such as Laguna Red Sculpture, which is a cone 5 body which I fire anywhere from cone 02- cone 2 for bisque  to bring out red color and also for strength, and  then fire it to cone 04-03 for my glazes.  i forgot to check, are you press molding these or modeling them directly? it might be too  much grog if you are dong fine carving etc.. but the point is, this type is sturdy, won't shrink crack or warp much and will have good strength and durabiilty once installed,
if you are  use to working with a finer clay, many of the red terra cotta bodies have good strength at low temps, but i would go 04 or above..even 03 -01 , and some grog will help. and of course test..there is so much variation in commercial bodies

I will make them a structural component... Ha Ha Ha 
 Just joking I will certainly use the overwhelming non-structural advice.
 
Nerd I have a cheesy modern Gargoyle designed corbel that fits our kitschy kitchen style.
 
 It's fantastic that most of us on the ceramics forum can make our own creations and yet we never seem to save much making it ourselves.
 
We live in the country and thankfully have no zoning or building codes to follow other than the national requirements. Hopefully it will remain that way. As it stands, our community has managed to fix any problems without needing someone in charge on a power trip.
 
Some really good mounting ideas, I will probably use bolts and score the back.
 
I use paper clay for mid-fire functional sculpture when it needs to be used. Stoneware paper clay sculptures on the large scale can be very challenging to work with.
 
I remember some lower fire sculptural terracotta clay's tested extremely well in a destructive test someone ran awhile back. Would any one recall the type of clay and what temperature it fired at. Choosing the right clay from the start would be my goal.

Your workshop dates are just after the Anacortes Art Festival-I will be diving off Widbey Island during those dates after show.

Stephani is a great teacher.i have seen her teaching at the Architectural workshop that Potters Council sponsored in Cleveland in 2007 and co-taught along side her in Italy at La. Meridiana. In 2014. If you are interested in tile making, designing, and all the know how it takes to do it, this is a great opportunity.
marcia
 
 
http://www.revivaltileworks.com/

When i make corbels i generally hdesign them to be   mortared in, but I also place cross supports in the back with holes so that a hanging wire or cable  can be installed, or they can be  hung onto bolts.
Even if  they are to be mortared in ,it is advantageous to have them supported while the mortar sets in.
If you do not want to work that into the back of the corbel you can figure out clever ways to introduce ,then cover  bolt or large screw holes via the face.
i have made corbels as large as 2 by 4 feet. with anything large and heavy i want to have a mechanical as well as a mortar method of suspension and support.
With concrete it is unlikely you would depend on the corbels entirely to bear the weight of the concrete, but they certainly do add something to the support of an overhang. 
 
S.Stephenson
Revival Arts Studio/Revival Tileworks
http://www.revivaltileworks.com

If you are interested in doing a residency in Europe please read the pdf below.
 
Best of luck!
 
Evelyne
Crafts-Guidelines-2016.pdf
Crafts-Guidelines-2016.pdf

I will be there!
 
I will give a short (well, actually very short 6.30 minute) lecture at the Blinc 20/20 event. I hope you all will come to support me
Don't know the date and time yet. Will keep you in the loop...
 
Evelyne

DATE : August 9-12, 2016
LOCATION: Cloudy Mountain Pottery, Maple Falls ,WA
HANDMADE TILE: 4 days, comprehensive workshop
with Stephani Stephenson of Revival Tileworks
Join us this summer, August 9-12 2016, at Cloudy Mountain Pottery for an exciting 4 day workshop with the fabulous Stephani Stephenson.
This will be an intensive, comprehensive hands on tile making workshop.  Come learn design, relief modeling/ carving, making field tile and trim, moldmaking, extruding, pressing and forming techniques.  If that isn’t enough, we will also cover drying, firing, clays, surface treatments and glazing.
Participants will make a relief tile and reusable mold.
Cost: $425 includes 4 day workshop and all materials.
Stephenson is a full time tile maker and sculptor.  She brings a sense of both history and exploration, experience and high energy to her workshops.
link to information:  
http://cloudymountainpottery.com/events/

none of the categories quite fit me. tile maker? sculptor?  hand builder?
potter isn't accurate either though i don't howl about being in the big tribe.
oh? and that other word, at least it is better if you take out the extra 'syllalibble'
i.e., ceramist rather than ceramicist.

Deposits are due Feb. 1 for Shape, Paddle and Pasta
http://www.lameridia...elsor_24_14.htm
 
 
24 Shape, Paddle and Pasta!
Marcia Selsor www.marciaselsor.com
Stephani Stephenson www.revivaltileworks.com
www.archi-terracotta.com
June 8th – 21st 2014
Architectural ceramics and woodfiring. For all levels
 
Have you ever dream about making a fountain or large-scale work for your home or garden? Using varied techniques from Architectural Ceramics traditions, we will design and build components for a self-standing fountain using Tuscan Terra Cotta Clay. These techniques can be adapted for use in small studios. We will fire the work in a wood-fired kiln at the conclusion of the workshop.
This is a great opportunity to work with two well versed, professional ceramic artists and instructors. Both artists have offered workshops in this field for over a decade. The program includes food and wine tastings and occasional dinners in adjoining towns. The highlight of the culinary day is the sumptuous traditional Tuscan cuisine by Lucia, (who has authored her own cookbook), served every day at midday. We will visit some of the incredible surrounding Tuscan hill towns: The Etruscan City of Volterra and the scenic Medieval towns of San Gimignano, Certaldo and Siena.
 
 
Cost: € 2100
The workshop fee includes
the following:
- Tuition (class is 6/7 hours per day with 12 hours studio time)
- Materials and firings
Cost: double room Euro 2100 – single room Euro 2400
- Welcome dinner and welcome breakfast
- A freshly prepared full Tuscan lunch with wine on all working days
- Field trips and gourmet tastings
 
 
 
Marcia Selsor has been traveling to Europe for the past 30 years and leading workshops at La Meridiana since 2001. She has lived in Spain and Italy researching traditional potters and architectural ceramics in both countries. Marcia's programs offer inspiration from the local culture and hands-on experience in a ceramic studio. Selsor is a Professor Emerita of Montana State University and continues creative work from her studio and from locations throughout the United States and abroad. www.marciaselsor.com
 
Stephani Stephenson is the owner, designer and creator of Revival Tileworks. She produced a DVD on Architectural Ceramics Techniques with the American Ceramic Society and has shared in-depth knowledge and experience with tilemaking, sculptural and architectural techniques, in workshops and in the classroom.
www.revivaltileworks.com

the shaping and paddling will be for the clay, we think! the pasta? for us!

i'm doing it. no special circumstances. no outside job, no spouse or partner income. there are better  years and tougher years. you save llike heck during high earning years to help tide you through the tough years. my business has never really come back to the level it was before the real estate crash, as my customers were and are primarily people who are remodeling,(tile, fireplaces, fountain, mural, architectural components.)
so i'm in the process of re-evaluating what i do, where my markets are, whether i should change my focus. trying to listen to and serve  my creative instincts  as well as my business calculations.
i nurtured a business part time for 5 years then took  the leap to full time 16-17 years ago. the job i left was stressful, sedentary and didn't pay all that well, though it was considered a good job in that town. i tried like heck to land a job in academia but it did not pan out. you could say that being a full time ceramic artist is also stressful, sedentary and doesn't pay that well , LOL!  but for me, at least it has the potential, (and it is not as sedentary. ) maybe that is the difference between an entrepeneur and some one who is not..the thought that there is potential, there is opportunity. entrepeneurs and those who are living off of their work are optimists, i believe. you can punch a time clock and be a pessimist but  you have to be keep the engine turning over, and over and over  if you are self employed, so you do sort of have to enjoy that aspect of it...being a self starter..
It is also a bit odd being a full timer in a profession that can seem filled with  part timers , people  doing it as a retirement pursuit and a hobby , and  those who do not need to pay the bills with their clay money.  Depending on where you live, it can be lonesome and tough to connect with other full timers. you will find that most full timers are gracious and generous . You will need a depth of passion that will have  you wanting to run some glaze tests or try a new form or improve something you have already done thousands of time no matter how long you have done it...it really has to be the fire in your belly. 
you have gotten some very good advice fromm other posters.
Everyone is different when it comes to how much risk they can handle and how  they approach major  changes or projects in their lives. some are cautious and plan meticulously for years, either weaning themselves into it little by little or planning for 'the day'. others leap or immerse themselves, and use that immersion as the thing that will tell them if this is for them or not.
one suggestion i have is to work, if possible in a true production  studio. if nothing else, this will give you a sense of the pace  and timing needed to live off the earnings from your work.
recognize your strengths, weaknesses and the passion and committment you have. you really must love clay if you are going to go solo, you will also be wearing about 50 other hats and will need to determine just how many you yourself will wear and which ones you will delegate or hire out. . entrepeneurial zest and communication skills are also a must, in fact , some of the most successful operations , (i.e. more than one person,) are headed up by potters who discovered they had other skills and loves, such as designing equipment or workplaces, doing the designing or marketing, etc, they found they were stronger business people and decided  to hire  production potters, glazer, kiln loader, office personnel,shipping crew, etc.
i will tell you there is no one roadmap, and though you will be with a fine group of folks you will be living by your wits and what you can produce.
whatever you decide, here's to you for valuing our medium enough to consider it!

This is extremely right on the mark.
stephsteph said-
(It is also a bit odd being a full timer in a profession that can seem filled with  part timers , people  doing it as a retirement pursuit and a hobby , and  those who do not need to pay the bills with their clay money.  Depending on where you live, it can be lonesome and tough to connect with other full timers. you will find that most full timers are gracious and generous . You will need a depth of passion that will have  you wanting to run some glaze tests or try a new form or improve something you have already done thousands of time no matter how long you have done it...it really has to be the fire in your belly. )
I really can connect with this statement-but alas I'm a full timer with a hot belly.
Mark

as long as we are talking balloons...
once i made some pieces by filling balloons with water, tied them, draped slabs around them, then put the whole combo into a net bag, the kind that onions or old style sausages come in..thin plastic netting. i tied off the netting with some cord and suspended the clay/water balloon/netted forms from a low hanging tree limb (i was working outside)
then i paddled them to smoth the seams and impress the net texture and experimented with tying the forms with cord, cinching them here and there, and let them dry to leather hard. removed the cord, the net bag, pierced the aballoon to pour out the water. i ended up with some pretty cool organic shapes which were salt fired. i believe i used porcelain with fiber content for the clay.
 
i wanted to experiment with a different way of making forms. The idea of working on a suspended form rather than a one  built up from a surface intrigued me. plus it was just kind of fun playing with the balloons on a nice summer day. they did look like odd fruits or ausages curing out there on the tree.

i'm doing it. no special circumstances. no outside job, no spouse or partner income. there are better  years and tougher years. you save llike heck during high earning years to help tide you through the tough years. my business has never really come back to the level it was before the real estate crash, as my customers were and are primarily people who are remodeling,(tile, fireplaces, fountain, mural, architectural components.)
so i'm in the process of re-evaluating what i do, where my markets are, whether i should change my focus. trying to listen to and serve  my creative instincts  as well as my business calculations.
i nurtured a business part time for 5 years then took  the leap to full time 16-17 years ago. the job i left was stressful, sedentary and didn't pay all that well, though it was considered a good job in that town. i tried like heck to land a job in academia but it did not pan out. you could say that being a full time ceramic artist is also stressful, sedentary and doesn't pay that well , LOL!  but for me, at least it has the potential, (and it is not as sedentary. ) maybe that is the difference between an entrepeneur and some one who is not..the thought that there is potential, there is opportunity. entrepeneurs and those who are living off of their work are optimists, i believe. you can punch a time clock and be a pessimist but  you have to be keep the engine turning over, and over and over  if you are self employed, so you do sort of have to enjoy that aspect of it...being a self starter..
It is also a bit odd being a full timer in a profession that can seem filled with  part timers , people  doing it as a retirement pursuit and a hobby , and  those who do not need to pay the bills with their clay money.  Depending on where you live, it can be lonesome and tough to connect with other full timers. you will find that most full timers are gracious and generous . You will need a depth of passion that will have  you wanting to run some glaze tests or try a new form or improve something you have already done thousands of time no matter how long you have done it...it really has to be the fire in your belly. 
you have gotten some very good advice fromm other posters.
Everyone is different when it comes to how much risk they can handle and how  they approach major  changes or projects in their lives. some are cautious and plan meticulously for years, either weaning themselves into it little by little or planning for 'the day'. others leap or immerse themselves, and use that immersion as the thing that will tell them if this is for them or not.
one suggestion i have is to work, if possible in a true production  studio. if nothing else, this will give you a sense of the pace  and timing needed to live off the earnings from your work.
recognize your strengths, weaknesses and the passion and committment you have. you really must love clay if you are going to go solo, you will also be wearing about 50 other hats and will need to determine just how many you yourself will wear and which ones you will delegate or hire out. . entrepeneurial zest and communication skills are also a must, in fact , some of the most successful operations , (i.e. more than one person,) are headed up by potters who discovered they had other skills and loves, such as designing equipment or workplaces, doing the designing or marketing, etc, they found they were stronger business people and decided  to hire  production potters, glazer, kiln loader, office personnel,shipping crew, etc.
i will tell you there is no one roadmap, and though you will be with a fine group of folks you will be living by your wits and what you can produce.
whatever you decide, here's to you for valuing our medium enough to consider it!

as long as we are talking balloons...
once i made some pieces by filling balloons with water, tied them, draped slabs around them, then put the whole combo into a net bag, the kind that onions or old style sausages come in..thin plastic netting. i tied off the netting with some cord and suspended the clay/water balloon/netted forms from a low hanging tree limb (i was working outside)
then i paddled them to smoth the seams and impress the net texture and experimented with tying the forms with cord, cinching them here and there, and let them dry to leather hard. removed the cord, the net bag, pierced the aballoon to pour out the water. i ended up with some pretty cool organic shapes which were salt fired. i believe i used porcelain with fiber content for the clay.
 
i wanted to experiment with a different way of making forms. The idea of working on a suspended form rather than a one  built up from a surface intrigued me. plus it was just kind of fun playing with the balloons on a nice summer day. they did look like odd fruits or ausages curing out there on the tree.

i taught after school art to middle schoolers last year. the focus in the school is heavily geared toward getting students to pass the standardized tests. i mean the teachers really ,really  focus on that. they have to get the numbers up, period.the kids seem to get a pretty good science class exposure as well.  there is no art during the day. no music either. most of the kids i encountered had little to no drawing ability and most had never worked with clay or most art materials.
i believe the school is disserving kinetic learners, those who learn by doing, by using their hands and materials to problem solve and create. in truth i would love to see what use to be called ' 'vocational' aspect to high school curriculum..i'd love to see these kids not only learn about art but learn about, say tile making , welding,etc. another local school still has welding, which encompases 'farm' welding as well as a sculptural project.
 
but the middle school kids are at the mercy of a state that has cut everything.. the progtam i taught at  was a federal grant program and it ended last year. in that program ,some kids got  tutoring  in math and reading in accordance with prep for the tests, but it was the only opportunity thety had to take  so called 'enrichment' clases , such as art

La Meridiana is a fabulous place to stay and learn, and just enjoy the experience. we'll be making a freestanding architectural work, a fountain, and people of all skill levels are welcome. we'll be firing the work in the wood kiln at the end of week 2, as well a touring some local towns such as Volterra, San Gimignano, Certaldo and Siena. It will be a small group. There are a few spaces left. hope to see you there!

stephsteph, just looked at your website.  beautiful tiles, wonderful sculpture.  
 
wish you were closer, i have several boxes of hestia to give someone.

Putting a skin of plaster over the styrofoam surface helps dry the clay enough for it to take the shape quickly and pop it off. It was something I was taught in school and used this for hand building multiple foams quickly and attaching them.
Carving the styrofoam to a shape desired, refine with a surform tool and apply a thin coat of plaster. Smooth is with a metal flexible rib as it sets up. It is a good type of mold...a positive form, not a negative form, i.e. a hump mold , not a slump mold. As such the clay needs to be removed before it starts shrinking.
Wahine said she wondered if she "can use the styrofoam forms with pottery plaster to make some molds".. If I misunderstood, sorry. This is the way I have used styrofoam and plaster to make molds.
 
Marcia

all i can say is look at the marvelous history of pottery. look at the pottery produced in cultures all over the world , from the deep past to the hip present. Everywhere you will find lovely ,gorgeous , functional earthenware.