Just an update on this helix piece. I did end up making 2 of them, and decided to fire them at Cone 2 instead of the usual bisque+high fire (Cone 10). Everyone in the ceramics studio who gives me the time of day also advised me that the cantilevering structure would result in severe slumping at Cone 10, but that nothing like that would happen at Cone 2. So, they're now waiting for Cone 2 firing, with a big sign on them that says "fire slowly - greenware!" The clay is so thick at the base that I'm afraid they will blow apart if the firing isn't super-slow. After the Cone 2, I will glaze them at low fire. The logic is, first, they have to be fired hot enough to be reasonably hard, and hot enough for the two different clay bodies' post-fired color-contrast to come out. Second, I want them glazed to be consistent with the other members of this two-clay-bodies series and for them to perhaps hold water (we'll see about that...). As with almost all my pieces, this is apparently an experiment. Anyhoo, here they are in their swirling glory, pre-firing:
Here's a piece I'm working on, which is sort of a marriage of two threads I've been doing over the years - the segmented-spiral theme, and the alternating-clay-types/colors vessels theme. Robert said, "it's very Rolf."
It's a bit of a conceit, or a folly, or something, to think this could legitimately claim to be a functional piece (a vase), but maybe that's the point. At this stage in my making ceramic pieces, I'm definitely looking for a point to it all, besides just being fun to do - if my work is to have any interest as fine art beyond the (arguably) decorative.
It's going to be one of a pair, or even more, and the companions might eschew the functional conceit, just to mess with the viewer's brain (another conceit).
About me:
My day-job, when I've had one, is as a photography art director, primarily focused on making stock photos. View my web-site for samples of this work: www.rolfsjogren.com
