ceramic exploration

Summer Internship,

Ceramic Studio, Vashi, Mumbai

Submitted by, Nimisha Drolia 09625802

Internship Report by,

Nimisha Drolia Internship with,

Rekha Goyal

(Ceramic artist) Project 1

Summer Internship,2010 IDC, IIT Bombay.

“Clay. It’s rain, dead leaves, dust, all my dead ancestors.

Stones that have been ground into sand. Mud. The whole cycle of life and death.”

Martine Vermeulen quotes

For many years I have been sitting in front of a dead screen, drawing some lines here and there. Today because of technology you even talk to your roommate sitting in front of you on inter net. You try to get real in the virtual world. Thus to once again experience the real world, to get in touch with the physical life out there I decided to do my summer internship in a Ceramic Studio.

Clay has always had some attraction. The true pleasure of creating something, giving form to once thoughts can be achieved by this medium.

You can make anything and everything and then easily break it again and make it again. The beauty of its rebirth again and again, gives you a child like feeling and all sense of competition and fear vanishes. You are fine making mistakes because you can mend it again. There is sense of excitement with every single piece you make, because everytime result is different, and the unpredictable feature makes it much more fun.

My aim in the project was to understand the material and different aspects of its application. Thus understanding how we can look at visual communication beyond computer screen and printed paper. Also having interest in space and experience design, clay being an essential material in the construction industry was my interest field for more exploration.

THE STUDIO Rekha Goyal

Rekha Goyal is a freelance Ceramic artist, who has a studio at Vashi, Mumbai. She started her studio 10 years ago in 1999 while in 2nd year of college. She has done her Bachelor in Fine Arts from Sir J.J College of Art, Mumbai, major in ceramics. After that she took her Masters degree in Arts in Architecture, from School of Architecture and Visual Arts, UEL, London, UK. She started with doing an exhibition with a friend of functional products of terracotta. She has been retailing her products through many different lifestyle stores in mumbai. She has retailed her work through stores like White window, turquoise etc. Today she mainly does high end commissioned work, some retail work for lifestyle stores and group exhibitions. for example she did Bath Range design for a upholstery company called Yamini, when it was launching a new series. Also there are number of exhibitions that take place.

The Studio is in Vashi, Navi Mumbai. It is a comfortable space with mostly everything needed for the studio to run smoothly. There are two wheels, and one kiln. One can do most of the work in the studio itself. Once you enter the studio, you can feel the heat of the kiln, and sneeze because of the clay dust around. One can spend the whole making and breaking, in company of the radio.

PROJECT Project

I worked on was a commissioned work for the interiors of The Grand Hyatt, Goa. These are wall pieces made of ceramics, which will be installed in the room as well as public toilets of the hotel. There are in total 320 pieces for room toilets and 8 pieces for the public toilets to be made.

Brief came from the art designer of the hotel, which said they wanted

wall pieces which are Indian, made from Indian motifs. Block prints were already used in the interiors, so preferably use that. The pieces are to be installed in a niche of 500x500 mm square. Colours wanted are off white or ochre.

Concept for the tiles was mainly to stick to Indian motifs. The torn edges

of the pieces is to make it look more dramatic and not an ordinary ceramic tile. It gives it a more organic and flowing character and also make the pieces look more finished. The glaze is off white, with a few pieces with a layer of crackle frit which gives unexpected results in blue and ochre.

Wooden blocks with floral and bird motifs are used, which are filled with oxides. The size used is 200 x 200 mm.

Process (Off-White Pieces)

1. Kneed the clay well, keeping the clay tight enough to roll.

2. Roll the lump into a size bigger than required, and maintain the thickness by using batons.

3. Cut the slab in the size needed using scale. Keep in mind the tearing to be done and the shrinkage of the clay after firing.

4. Now carefully tear the edges of the slab.

5. Make prints on the slab using the wooden blocks carefully.

The pressure used should be proper so the prints are neither too shallow not too deep.

6. Leave the slabs to dry, and after fully dry, clean with sponge and fill the motifs with red oxide. Clean the slab well after doing the motifs.

7. Before loading the slab in the kiln glaze the slab with desired glaze. Make a thin portion and spray it neatly on the surface.

8. Load the kiln very carefully, because the firing is of green ware which is very delicate and can easily break with very little shock. The firing is to be done till temperature of 1175 and then soaked for 1.30 hrs. The firing is a fast firing where the power of the kiln is kept full.

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Process (Agate Pieces)

1. Kneed the clay well, keeping the clay tight enough to roll.

Add Red Oxide in different proportion to the body. Now make portions of the different bodies and keep one above the other.

4. Make prints on the slab using the wooden blocks carefully.

The pressure used should be proper so the prints are neither too shallow not too deep.

2. Roll the lump and keep on adding and subtracting , exchanging and overlaying the different portions to get good texture. There should be a good balance of white and red, and areas of good shading as well.

5. Leave the slabs to dry, and after fully dry, clean with sponge.

Clean the slab well after doing the motifs. Now fill the motifs with MnO, which will give a black colour, and stand out in the shaded brown and white slab.

3. Cut the slab in the size needed using scale. Keep in mind the tearing to be done and the shrinkage of the clay after firing. Now carefully tear the edges of the slab.

6. Load the kiln very carefully, because the firing is of green ware which is very delicate and can easily break with very little shock. The firing is to be done till temperature of 1175 and then soaked for 1.30 hrs.

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Compositions and Patterns

The motifs used are mainly floral and bird motifs. With different permutation and combination of these small and big motifs every piece is different. To add to the variety, clay naturally results in a different piece with every firing. The compositions I did were more Indian and composed. I tried to balance the negative and positive space so that the pattern don’t look very cluttered or empty. They looked as a whole composition but part of the entire concept.

Some Technical Detail

The Clay Body used has composition

Ball clay 40%, China clay 30%, Feldspar 20%. Silica 10%.

Glaze used is ready made off white glaze. At times crackle frit id also used.

The motifs are filled with Red Oxide and Manganese Oxide.

The firing is done till 1175 degrees, as the body is 1200 degree body, and then soaked for about 1.30 hrs. The firing is a fast firing and the slabs are fired in greenware stage, i.e it is not bisquited before glazing.

There have been continues problem of cracking of pieces.

With many trials and errors in firing and making, we figured out that the problem was with he body of the clay, which was very fine for slab work. Thus my now adding Grog to the body the problem might get solved.

Agate Pieces

Agate pieces are not glazed. The composition here is very flowing and delicate. Thus only leaf motifs are used. The compositions are done with reacting to the pattern that comes on the agate body. Only two particular leaf motifs are used because they give cleaner and denser results

Other Explorations in the Studio On the Wheel

Everyday practise on the wheel has improved my throwing skills and now I can consistently make cylinders of 5� height.

I can now easily also experiment with form. Aim is to in future improve and make better forms.

Other Odd Jobs

There were small odd jobs in the studio like packing of the products.

I once glazed the mugs by method of pouring and dipping. Also made the handles of the coffee mugs.

Once in a while I was asked to make glazes by carefully weighing the portions and sieving and mixing them well. I also made test pieces for glazes with transparent glaze and talc to see results of different proportions.

This gave me a good understanding of chemical compositions of glazes and there broader divisions. Also how different bodies are glazed in different methods like dipping, spraying, pouring.

My Learning

How my month of internship ended in Studio, is a matter of surprise.

Everyday was a new day, a new experience, a new learning. The small comfortable space where when you enter you first experience the heat of the kiln, then feel the dust around, and you work in a mess full day. Still you love it. Sitting all day long doing this and that, making new forms, drying used clay, kneading and rolling and glazing in a company on a radio gives you more time and space to think and work. The pleasure of doing it all, from scratch to end, makes you the sole owner of your creations. You can say so much and yet be so quite.

I learnt various aspects of ceramics here. Making clay, understanding glaze and working with different techniques of ceramics. A lot of technical understanding is so important to do more in the subject, to explore. I learnt its application in various fields, apart from conventional pottery we think.

I in particular found the technique of glazing and its chemistry of great interest.

Apart from these physical learning, there is more important learning.

You need to learn how to behave yourself as to property of material. If the material is not dealt as it should be it will give wrong results. Time it need to dry, compositions best suited for particular kind of works, to be very careful when handling the products. You learn to be more patient and tolerant.

Clay taught me to expect the unexpected.