slipwork•PlumTreePottery


	STUDIO PROCESS drawings forming tools slipwork glazing firing ARTIST IN RESIDENCY VIEWING ROOM TWO potters who led the way THREE who inspired

SLIPWORK

The making of a large plate begins with the forming stages: a shallow, wheel-thrown, curved form to which a large clay coil is added. This becomes the lip. The slip work phase, using fairly thick white, chrome, and iron slips, is a time of playful and spontaneous reactions guided more by sensations and instinctual movements than by conscious decisions on my part. I find this aspect of surface decoration immensely inviting, and it also provides a beginning point during the next phase, glazing. But are these active surfaces too daunting later on when glaze considerations must be made? No, not at all.