CHIPPED precious imperfections
Megan Hild ID @ UArts May 2012
CHIPPED precious imperfections
“Beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness. Wabi-sabi is ambivalent about separating beauty from nonbeauty or ugliness.The beauty of wabi-sabi is in one respect, the condition of coming to terms with what you consider ugly. Wabi-sabi suggests that beauty is a dynamic event that occurs between you and something else. Beauty can spontaneously occur at any moment given the proper circumstances, context, or point of view. Beauty is thus an altered state of consciousness, an extraordinary moment of poetry and grace.”
Leonard Koren “Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers”
Contents Introduction Iteration 1: Re-use Topic Iteration 2: Break Iteration 3: Chip Process Form Explorations Final Form
short noteworthy details
Introduction
In our daily interactions we create emotional attachments with the objects around us
but, unfortunately...
things
break.
With this knowledge a capstone topic was chosen... with explorations in ceramics, beauty, surprise, color, porcelain, taboos, useful vs. use-less, chips, nicks, cracks, breaks, kintsugi, glass, molding/casting, mason stains, bow bins, proportion, wabi-sabi, ware/tear, food, patterns, life time, heirlooms, love, function, interactions, abuse, care, dinnerware, relationships, handling, use, dish vs. plate, restaurants, hella jongerius,re-use,oops,glaze,point,percentages,food, memories, fault lines, subtleties, ageing, moments, celebrations, facets, embrace, perfect/imperfect, slip, bowls vs. cups, love, attachment, cordula kehrer, history, surprise, embrace, accidents, firings, cones, facets, ware/tear, drinks, liquids, technique, process, tabs, pride, armatures,...
bow bins by Cordula Kehrer: rattan and plastic
- made from an antiquated method (basket weaving) - 2 contrasting materials - creates a new use from broken - would have been discarded otherwise - simple and beautiful!
Iteration 1: Re-use
By attaching a piece of the broken object to a similar cast porcelain form one can still use their favorite cup long after it has become useless.
un fired porcelain slip, previously broken juice glass
- shrinkage of porcelain during firing cause poor alignment of broken glass piece and cast form. - attachment of glass to porcelain would require a form of glue... unlikely to be food safe. - has to be a better way to mend the broken and use-less.
Topic Glasses, dishes and plates break through everyday use and ultimately become useless and unattractive. The initial goal was to create a place setting that through this everyday use/abuse would purposefully break and chip to form objects of another function or aesthetic.
Iteration 2: Break ...to form objects of another function.
experimentations in thrown volumes and scored tile
Tiles with “fault lines” and thrown volumes with varying wall thickness were created then fired to explore the control-ability of breaking points.
volumes - thrown forms - thinner/thicker in areas to create delicate breaking points tile studies - was able to control the break - ”fault lines” = fragile - fired clay was easily broken along lines
- from shattered pieces to another usable form - sharp edges at break
- scored, perforated, shaped, cut, reduced
- worked but could be better
break
before
after
Iteration 3: Chip ...to form objects of another aesthetic.
found bowl (age unknown)
- showed considerable ware - proved that ceramic does have a typical ageing process - even with chips and cracks bowl was never thrown away showing care for the object even after deterioration
chips, nicks, and cracks
Shino tea bowl / momoyana - Early Edo period
- beautiful, simple, poetic - stands the test of time - adds value to an object that is “broken�!!!
Kintsugi Kintsugi is the traditional Japanese art of mending broken pottery.This is achieved with powdered gold accompanying a lacquer resin. By going through this process the piece is given a second life. The bowl on the left has been gifted more then several lives, it has survived since the early 17th century. Many are accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with the beautiful gold seams of kintsugi. The Japanese “believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful�.
Color The average ceramic piece chips white or reddishbrown, the color of the clay body. Using colored porcelain, the intention is to create a set of bowls with imbedded color. The piece would, over time and use, become more and more vibrant. It would begin to record the relationship between object and owner through every chip, nick, and crack that occurs.
cracked colored porcelain with white glaze
How? Following the bisque firing, each piece is glazed in an opaque white, ultimately hiding the vibrant porcelain color beneath. So when the opaque ceramic glaze is broken the colored porcelain is revealed.
Process
mason stains mixed by %
Mason Stains By using Mason Stains to pigment the porcelain slip, the base color can be controlled so that each piece, upon chipping, reveals said color. Each stain has been chosen for its vibrancy and slight unpredictability.
definition - Mason Stains: are combinations of oxides, fitted to ensure uniformity of color and thus insure uniformity of results in firing. They can be used to color transparent or opaque glazes, slips, engobes or clay bodies. The stains may also be used effectively as colorants for direct brush decoration when mixed with water and a flux.
other - they require recipes for color combinations (precise measurements) - they range in a spectrum of color combinations
Molding / Casting Each bowl will be produced through molding and casting techniques using stained porcelain slip. A one part mold, based on the final bowl form, will be cast out of plaster.
Upon setting, the stained porcelain slip will be poured into the mold, let to rest, then the excess slip will be removed leaving the mold to dry. A colored porcelain form will be revealed upon release from the mold and ready to be bisque then glazed.
- tested mason stain percentages and glaze - revealed a variety of colors - was able to layer porcelain colors to create a “gob stopper� effect on several cups - glaze pulled away from lip of cups to reveal porcelain beneath = unintentional (but cool) - would like an entirely opaque white glaze for final product
experimental mason stained cast cups and shattered plates
Form Explorations
6 thrown bowl forms layered upon one-another
Basic Form Creating a bowl that you could easily eat and drink out of was imperative. Unlike a cup or plate, a bowl allows you, almost asks you to, use both hands while interacting with it. The user would need to embrace the object with both hands which only helps solidify the relationship between owner and bowl.
- when fired each porcelain piece will shrink 20 % so every form had to be slightly larger then final product - cup forms were also explored in relation to bowls... to create a future series
Texture: Points of Ware Creating facets at the bottom of the bowl would create points of ware.To accomplish this effect I began with laser cutting faceted plates varying in amount of points on each plate. I then attached them to a circle plate creating a guide similar to an armature for which I could sculpt the clay into the forms I needed to mold. - did not work - clay pulled away from armature - not nearly precise enough to create ideal form - to complicated / time consuming - would like to prototype facets with proper technique in future
Final Form A thrown form with spiraling ridges create vulnerable points of ware that will easily chip to reveal the colored porcelain beneath.
- was able to form a one part mold from thrown form - easily reproducible shape - simple - ware patterns at bottom of bowl will create rings over time
Tab To initiate relationship between user and object one must receive and immediately chip the bowl, causing imperfection in the bowl from the beginning of use. This tag will also be an indicator of what color lies beneath the opaque white glaze.
- several shapes were tested for easy chipping (circle was chosen) - tags are loosely attached and easily removed - tags are made from the same mason stained porcelain clay as the clay body beneath the glaze - considered the “belly button� of the porcelain bowl
Final Forms Currently in Production
un-fired colored porcelain bowl with tag
references: Coloring Clay by Jo Connell The Essential Guide to Mold Making & Slip Casting by Andrew Martin Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers� by Leonard Koren
THANK YOU! Josefina Isaza : Advisor Extraordinair! UArts ID Department Faculty UArts Ceramics Department (Students/Faculty) Friends and Family (for dealing with my imperfections)
The average ceramic piece chips white or reddishbrown, the color of the clay body. Using colored porcelain, the intention is to create a set of bowls with imbedded color. The piece would, over time and use, become more and more vibrant. It would begin to record the relationship between owner and bowl through every chip, nick, and crack that occurs.
Megan Hild ID @ UArts May 2012