Glaze or clay effect?!

[ISY]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this effect:

website is here: http://www.mostra-moustiers.com/fr/galerie-la-mostra/aire-goutt-allikmets.php 

Is this a look achieved through a glaze that cracks/crazes excessively, or what else is happening here?! I've seen a few vessels with this type of effect recently and I think it looks great, but how exactly is it done?!

[Sputty]

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[Min]

My hunch would be white and gray/black slips over the stoneware body then sodium silicate and stretched.

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/pottery-making-techniques/wheel-throwing-techniques/deliberate-cracks-heating-and-stretching-to-create-crackled-texture-on-pottery/

[Magnolia Mud Research]

If you use a "dry powder slip" applied to a moist cylinder and compress the "dry slip" into the surface before stretching the cylinder, the sodium silicate and the heat gun is not necessary.  The technique is one of many that exploits the aesthetics of contrasting areas.  
 
I often use dry clay (OM4, EPK, Red Art, Local clay) as the dry powder. 
 
LT

[ISY]

18 hours ago, Min said:

My hunch would be white and gray/black slips over the stoneware body then sodium silicate and stretched.

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/pottery-making-techniques/wheel-throwing-techniques/deliberate-cracks-heating-and-stretching-to-create-crackled-texture-on-pottery/

That is really interesting, would love to try that. I wonder if a good old-fashioned hairdryerinstead of the heat gun might suffice... 

[ISY]

14 hours ago, Magnolia Mud Research said:

If you use a "dry powder slip" applied to a moist cylinder and compress the "dry slip" into the surface before stretching the cylinder, the sodium silicate and the heat gun is not necessary.  The technique is one of many that exploits the aesthetics of contrasting areas.  
 
I often use dry clay (OM4, EPK, Red Art, Local clay) as the dry powder. 
 
LT

That's such a good idea. I wonder if this would work more generally with glazes that lend themselves to green ware?  I've not experimented with single firing at all, though the idea really appeals. 

[ISY]

19 hours ago, Sputty said:

Different layers/strata/shells/admixtures of clay. Here's a clue:

More exactly than that, you'd have to ask her - aireallikmets@wanadoo.fr

My French is, alas, pretty rusty, but I managed to copy it over into an online translator and got the gist of it (I think). The technique sounds pretty similar to what Min and Magnolia Mud Research have said. I suppose I could contact her... I'm always a bit worried about bothering  people directly, as I imagine they don't want to be pestered, but I admit I'm probably overly hesitant with things like that. 

[Sputty]

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[oldlady]

isy,  a hair dryer works just fine, just a little more slowly.

[C.Banks]

Mike Dodd demonstrates throwing and modifying a pot

for a somewhat similar approach and effect

[oldlady]

Isy, i have been thinking about your asking about a hair dryer and realized i should have included some more info re: heat guns.  recently visited some friends at a rec center studio.  picked up a Plasti-bat,  a plastic batt brand name that was warped so badly that it would not fit on a wheelhead .  when i asked about it, several people said that it was warped by using a heat gun on the clay item while it was attached to the bat.  a propane torch which has a real flame might cause a problem for a batt as well.

[Sputty]

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[ISY]

22 hours ago, Sputty said:

Aire is actually Estonian, settled in France. Is your Estonian any better than your French?

I joke. Actually, chances are she has some English too - in my experience, most Eastern Europeans are multi-lingual, and very often have English. Given that her email address is scattered across the four winds of the interwebs, I'm sure she wouldn't mind. Most of us would be only too happy to be asked about our work, I think.

As an aside, but relevant, I once came across a rather well-known (British) ceramicist at a potters' fair in Lyon (France) - the largest and best known potters' fair in the country. I approached him, and started a conversation about his work - bold, enamelled stuff - and asked a few questions about his techniques. His blunt, unfriendly response? 'Buy one, and I'll tell you.' His hostility was such that I've never forgotten it, and never miss an opportunity to mention it. But I find this to be vanishingly rare. Almost every potter I've met has been only too happy to talk for hours about their work, their background, their materials, and their techniques. In general, pottery (certainly in Europe) strikes me as a very collaborative, 'open source' sort of affair, and long may that last.

May have to work on my Estonian, it's a little rusty... German I could do (I'm from Germany, though living in the UK), but that's about it! 

I may send her an email - you are probably right, why have your email out there if you don't like getting emails. And the worst that could happen is that she says 'no'. 

Re. your unfriendly potter, that really is quite off-putting, and I suppose it's fairly close to my 'worst-case-scenario' idea which usually prevents me from contacting potters directly with questions. In person, the few potters I have met I have found to be a helpful and friendly lot who welcome newcomers with advice and generosity, so hopefully this is generally the case and stories such as your encounter in Lyon are rare. 

[ISY]

7 hours ago, oldlady said:

Isy, i have been thinking about your asking about a hair dryer and realized i should have included some more info re: heat guns.  recently visited some friends at a rec center studio.  picked up a Plasti-bat,  a plastic batt brand name that was warped so badly that it would not fit on a wheelhead .  when i asked about it, several people said that it was warped by using a heat gun on the clay item while it was attached to the bat.  a propane torch which has a real flame might cause a problem for a batt as well.

That's a good point. I think I'll definitely stick to my trusty hairdryer if I experiment to try to achieve this glaze effect! 

[preeta]

I will also add the possibilities of multiple firings too. 

I have tried heat guns vs flames but it’s a different look. I prefer the torch .

Sputty I am so sorry for your experience. I’ve had the opposite. However I’ve had your kind of experience in other fields. And heard others complain about other potters. This is a huge ongoing struggle for me now. A lot of my favourite artists are such €#%$¥.  I like their work but not the person. I have not figured out how to feel about that.