Slipcast-The Ceramics Blog

Notes

2012-01-06T08:51:00.003-05:00

I am again behind the times. As I assume all of you have heard, Eva Zeisel passed away at the age of 105. We should all be so lucky to have such a rich and wonderful life. There is nothing I can say that has already been said. Of course when a a ceramicist gets a obituary in the New York Times they are some one to remember.

A few things to address from Matt and Dave's Clays.

The first, is a big announcement coming soon for our customers in the Mid(dle) West. We will announce it soon.

For everyone else. As you know all of out products are available to you through direct shipping from the USPS. The USPS flat rate shipping is a great tool for us to get our clays to you quickly and affordably. As they promise 2-3 day shipping for all 50 states.

That said, we reside is chilly Alfred, New York. where winter has set in. So to minimize the possibility of freezing in the shipping process, we are going to restrict shipping on all orders to Monday and Tuesday. This way we can minimize the amount of time your clay will sit in chilly post offices. We are sorry for the delay in getting clay to your studio, but it is for the best.

That said, we have studied clay freezing and it is not a big deal. It has no effect on the quality of your clay. It may require a quick wedging, but you should be wedging your clay anyway ;)

Also, mark you calenders as Matt and Dave will be at NCECA 2012 in Seattle. We will be doing a presentation on the nature of Mid-temperature glazes. It should be pretty exciting and we hope to see you all there!

Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists!

Porcelain for the People!

Malcom Davis 1937-2011 by Dave Finkelnburg

2011-12-14T09:08:00.005-05:00

Like very many folks, I suspect, Malcolm Davis bounced into and through my life in clay at rather high speed and with seemingly boundless good humor. If you were around, that meant you got to share in the fun too! He was also genuinely humble, and one of the kindest people I have ever known besides.

I met him at my first or second NCECA. He was nationally famous by then and had dropped in on a carbon trapping breakout session where someone insisted on holding forth at great length on the only right ways to do anything and everything involved with trapping carbon in a glaze. Malcolm corrected the blowhard a few times, but each time with such ease and pleasantness that I think the guy never even figured out who Malcolm was!

Later I had the good fortune to spend a few days in one of Malcolm's workshops. The conditions were abominable. Malcolm was privately furious. He was also the quintessential professional. I doubt that anyone else in the workshop was aware of what he had to put up with. With his unflappable good cheer he brought off each session without so much as a hiccup, and kept all of us laughing along the way.

We collaborated on a magazine article, spoke at NCECA, and corresponded via e-mail. Along the way I learned that Malcolm had his serious side, too. There were glimpses of it when he gave the closing lecture at NCECA in Philadelphia. In between the smiles and jokes and laughs it was clear that art was serious to him and that the welfare and humanity of people was serious to him, too.

As skilled, talented and hard-working an artist as Malcolm was, I think he would be one to agree with the note I received regarding him this morning. "It occurs to me that if you are remembered for being a positive and loving person," it said, "it seems a life well lived."

Here's to you, Malcolm. You lived your life very well indeed.

Cast Recording

2011-12-12T10:23:00.002-05:00

I was sent a great blog post by Jeremy Brooks, who is teaching a Tools, Materials, and Process class at the University of Michigan. The class is working on a project where they have to create a cup and a cast of their mouth to work as a cup holder. It is a really cool experiment of art, design and process.
Jeremy sent me the post with this note.

"My mold making class at the University of Michigan has really enjoyed working with your slip. For most of them, this is their first experience with casting slip. It is incredibly plastic for a casting slip and I am impressed with how far they can push it."

Of course I love to hear great reviews about how functional and versatile our Clays and Casting Slips are!

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists!

Porcelain for the People!

It's in the bag.

2011-12-01T09:18:00.001-05:00

A very nice lamp from designer Simon Naouri and produced by Triode Edition.

Via

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists!

Porcelain for the People!

Birdhouse in your Soul

2011-11-17T10:33:00.002-05:00

Hi All!

I'm still here. Sorry for the absence.
As you can imagine, Mr. Baby is taking up all of my free time. It has been exhausting but wonderful. He a a great baby. Snuggly, fun and playful and he just started sleeping through the night! Victory. We couldn't ask for a better little man.

For you today I have these birdhouses (Bird homes?) from my friend Kris Lyons. I don't think Kris has a website but if you are interested in them or putting them in a gallery, contact me and I will put you in touch with Kris.

Kris is one of my favorite makers and her art has brought discord to my family. You see, when I went to Grad School my art collection went into storage at my parents house. The one piece of art that my parents asked if they could keep on display was a piece by Kris of a girl riding an clothes iron.They loved it as much as I did and they kept it on display in the best spot in their house.

After school, I asked my parents if they could keep my collection until we bought a house. Down the road, Mrs Rose and I acquired our dream abode and so I informed my parents that I would be reclaiming the collection. My Father informed me that I owed him money, and that he was going to be keeping Iron Girl to settle our debt. Bastard!

To this day, there she sits in their house ironing away,

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists!

Porcelain for the People!

Redesign

2011-09-19T16:21:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed. the blog is looking a little different.
The theme I have been using has gotten a little squirelly. I am trying to add a new template, but it is going to take me a while to a) get one that I really like b) get the layout just right. So, please excuse the mess and all should be back to normalcy soon.

Vote Early, Vote Often

2011-09-14T09:22:00.002-04:00

Hey All,
Your votes are needed. The Gardner Museum is is having a young artists competition with a $10,000 Prize. I know a few of these folks and they are great and all deserve your praise. but only one can win the prize. So please stop by and give them your vote.

Link

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

Meet Mister Baby

2011-09-12T14:58:00.000-04:00

Hey All,
I'm returning to the land of the living.
Of course my absence can me explained by the emergence of our new son. Mr. Baby

He is pretty cute if I do say so myself.
Born 8.26.2011 @ 12:44am, 7lb 9oz, 20" long
Labor was (relatively) easy and Mama and Mr. Baby are doing well.
Hopefully I should be returning to the world of regular blogging soon.

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

I've been there...

2011-08-02T09:03:00.010-04:00

A precious piece of Song Dynasty porcelain was damaged during "nondestructive" testing by a research staff member, the Forbidden City authorities confirmed on Sunday, a day after a Web user had already leaked the information online.

Weibo microblog user Long Can alleged on Saturday that a Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) porcelain plate had been smashed about 20 days ago. The thread was reposted more than 15,000 times as of on Sunday evening.

The museum confirmed the claim on Sunday, announcing a Ge kiln blue glaze plate had been damaged. The 4.1 centimeter-high, 20.2 centimeter-diameter plate is one of 1,797 relics listed as national grade-one quality on the official museum website.

"The plate was crushed in nondestructive testing," Chang Lingxing, a publicity office employee of the museum, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Chang refused to reveal exactly how the expensive plate was damaged or how bad that damage was. Nor would he speculate about why the Palace Museum had waited 26 days to announce the accident.

The museum does not price its collection, Chang said, leaving the question of financial losses also unanswered.

"There's no way to estimate the value of national grade-one cultural relics," private collector Ma Weidu told the Global Times on Sunday in Beijing, "but as far as I know in auctions held in New York and London last year, the strike prices for two Ge Kiln porcelain pieces were more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) each."

Ma was quoted by China National Radio on Sunday as calling the accident the result of an irresponsible attitude on the part of the museum.

"It's all about being responsible," he said.

A museum-appointed investigation team had established the cause of the accident on Tuesday, according to a press release issued on Sunday by the museum.

The investigation team had also decided to punish the culprit, Chang said, but would not say how. He refused to identify the researcher either.

The testing was part of a Song Dynasty ceramics study project, suspended since the accident. A "nondestructive machine" had analyzed more than 50 ceramic pieces before the project was halted, according to the press release.

Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

Holy S#!t

2011-07-20T12:25:00.000-04:00

That is all that I have to say about the work of Katsuyo Aoki.

via

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

You light up my life

2011-07-18T09:59:00.000-04:00

British Ceramicist, Rebecca Wilson is responsible for these "Jelly Lamps"
Her lamps are inspired by dripping jelly and cookies made from Bone China.

via

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

Smashing Success

2011-07-08T10:37:00.001-04:00

For all the talk we have about making, we rarely talk about the downside of broken ceramics. I am the "bull in the china shop" of lore in our house. I break so many things, that I have gotten to the point that I consider all of our functional ware as "long term disposable".

That said, no one ever discusses the fine are of ceramic restoration. It is a skill set that we all should be experts as, yet I don't know anyone who does it. I know that one of my favorite artists Mark Burns did it years ago, but that is about the only mention that I have come across in all these years.

I was fascinated to come across these posts by Mill Girl talking about her days as a restorer and some of her methods and tricks. I won't got into it, as she does a great job explaining the process (Sand, who knew!?!). So stop on by her blog and give it a good read.

Story One
Story Two

Via

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

"The Worlds Fastest Porcelain"

2011-07-06T09:32:00.002-04:00

We have previously seen the Ferrari painted to looked like crazed porcelain, and that was a think of beauty. Now Bugatti has taken it a step farther and created a Veyron, which is the fastest commercial vehicle in the world, that is clad in actual porcelain.

drool, drool, drool

The porcelain cladding was made by Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin.

Amazing

Link

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

5th of July

2011-07-05T08:34:00.001-04:00

Hey All,
I'm back. Mrs. Rose, The Kitten and I had a great time on Cape Cod.

I had a great class with a fantastic group of people. I love teaching glaze calc classes, because the students are so into it. It makes for a super fun teaching experience.

If you want a glaze clac class for yourself. Please tell your local arts center about me and I would love to come to you too, as I know not everyone can make it out to Cape Cod.

Yesterday was American Independence Day, In celebration I have to post this video of a flash mob at the grocery store we were shopping at while on The Cape. We just missed this performance, Bummer.

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Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!

Vacation!

2011-06-24T11:32:00.001-04:00

Hey All,

I'm heading out to teach my class and to get a little beach time with Mrs. Rose and the Gestating Kitten. So I'll be out for a bit.

If you order any clay, I will be shipped upon our return on the 5th of July.

Here is a little funny for y'all.

You may laugh, but I have seen it before and worse. Everyone should take a serious look at their artist's statements.

Later

_________________________________________________________________________

Slipcast is brought to you by Matt and Dave's Clays.

Porcelain for the People!

Clays designed by Scientists to work for Artists.

Check out our new lower prices!