Mastodawn

Another nerikomi experiment, this time a lil snek. I colored the porcelain myself -- the yellow is a Mason stain. The green is that same yellow with a touch of cobalt oxide. I'm not sure where the dark spots came from but I'm guessing they're due to tiny lumps of cobalt that I didn't mix in thoroughly. The red eyes are porcelain slip colored with a little bit of Mason stain.

This piece was inspired by a version of Henry My Son by Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie that I listened to obsessively as a kid. The song is a humourous American reworking of the Child ballad Lord Randall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugA3WDbY9Kg

#Ceramics #Pottery #Snakes #Nerikomi #Porcelain #PeteSeeger #ArloGuthrie #HenryMySon #LordRandall #GreenAndYellow

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MissConstrue 10h ago

@AdrianRiskin are you using a kiln, or is it air dry? It’s so shiny! Are the stripy bits painted, or intertwined in the clay? Could I pepper you with more questions? Heh, sorry. 🤷🏻‍♀️😳

Ask away! I have a kiln and I fired this to cone 6. I usually fire porcelain to 10 but the coils need to be replaced (I have to wait till payday to get new ones) so it won't go up that high.

The shiny stuff is clear glaze. I put on about 10 coats because I like the depth it produces. Nothing's painted here. I mixed porcelain with colorants to make yellow clay and green clay. Nerikomi is a Japanese technique where the different colors is clay are layered together and then that mass is rolled, cut and recombined, etc. The colors don't mix, but stretch and enclose each other to produce patterns. It's very similar to how millefiori glass is made. The wiki article on it is pretty good but no pics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerikomi

Here are a couple of pieces I made last week using the same green and yellow that I used here, among along with some orange and blue. I photographed both front and back so you can see how the color goes all the way through the pieces.

https://kolektiva.social/@AdrianRiskin/116653471200439344

Nerikomi - Wikipedia

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MissConstrue 9h ago

@AdrianRiskin ooooh! That’s so cool. I want to play with clay. Beloved got me a wheel for Xmas, but I’ve not been able to use it because broken hand. Also I don’t have a kiln, and probably can’t be trusted with fire. 😳😂

This technique reminds me of a similar Japanese art style of marbled paper.

Yes, it totally looks like paper marbling! I love having this kiln, and it doesn't seem dangerous to have around. Contrast with lampworking glass, which I'm planning to start doing soon once I collect all the necessary equipment. I don't scare easily, but that has me thinking of lining my whole studio with sheet metal...

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MissConstrue 9h ago

@AdrianRiskin I went through a metal sculpture stage with oxy acetylene torches. I decided to do it at a maker space down in Dallas with insurance, rather than attempt it on the prairie with the constant wind and dry grasses. 🤣