My New Blog

Hi there, I have started a new blog to go alongside my masters course if you want to view it, follow the link below, Thanks.

http://jadecromptonceramics.blogspot.co.uk/

My Lights

My first light is inspired by the perspex models I made for casting. They are not finished ideas, they are more prototypes, ready to be improved and developed. The second light is my development of shapes I can create through the layering of perspex. Its a form I would take into ceramics eventually, the light is spiked and inspired by ice crystals.

I used a grundtal light fixture from Ikea, the bulb is only 10watt so the heat coming off wont melt or cause cracking in the perspex. To change the bulb you can reach into the top of the light and pull it up.

My Final Ceramic Pieces

Once I had cast 4 or 5 of each mould I created, I cleaned them up ready for a low firing at 1000 degrees, this was to allow me to sponge and spray my pieces in underglaze. I attempted underglazing before a firing it worked with one piece, but another piece cracked due to the excessive water going into the slip. I attempted to fill in the crack with white stopper, underglaze and firing. So I ended up sponging and spraying my pieces all different shades from my underglazes so that no piece from a set is the same colour.

Overall I have 26 pieces underglazed, I took 7 of my pieces and used a transparent glaze either just inside, or all over to see how it looked and worked. I do however prefer the matte apperance more than glazed but it does allow my pieces to become functional.

Steps to Casting Models

So this post will look at the process I take from designing my pieces in Solidworks to preparing the model for cutting and then assembling the model ready to be casted. The process is very lengthy but I enjoy being able to alter my designs bit by bit instead of hand building in clay and having no real control or exact structure.

I begin my designs with a recognisable vessel form. I draw out the profile of the form in corel draw and import it into Solidworks, this is then revolved into a vase form to see whether the size is correct. I then go back into Corel Draw and break up the vase profile into 5mm wide layers ready to be revolved in Solidworks again. Creating this piece gives me a form to work around with the bubbles in an assembly.

I use 6 different sized layered bubbles in my assemblies in Solidworks and I match up the layers to create full, flat slices. Once I've adjusted my designs after hours of test pieces I save my assembly as a part and combine all the bubbles together so that they can't be moved, from here I cut extrude the model layer by layer and take a sketch of the layer, save it as a DXF file and import it to Corel Draw where its numbered and ready to cut. 1 file is shown below the vase takes up 3 x 500mm by 500mm pieces of perspex at 5mm thick. I use the company SHEET PLASTICS to order my perspex, If you buy through EBAY with them you can usually get free postage, especially with the clear perspex, at £11.40 a sheet it can be costly to design the models but once the mould is done it can cast up to 100 vases.

Once the files are done they can be laser cut, each piece takes around 20 minutes to complete, I use my universities machine at the moment but I have been quoted around £15 for a sheet if I were to cut outside of university. Below is a video of my vase being cut on the laser cutter, it isn't the fastest machine but it gets the job done much faster than I could do on a band saw.

 

Once cut I have to use my stanley knife with a sharp blade and scrape away the melted edge the laser cutter leaves on the layer before I glue it together as I dicovered while making a mould that the edge causes the model to get stuck. Scraping away the edge also stops the plaster seeping in between the slices which also causes the model to get stuck and nip away the sharp edges. This process takes around 3-4 hours per model but once it's done I can start gluing. I use technicqll glue which is specifically for perspex, it bonds the perspex strong and dries clear. 

Once the model is assembled I begin to turn a spare for the base and a pouring hole on the lathe, and line up my model to work out where the parts will be on the mould, ensuring that they are even as possible. I took a lot of time on the moulds making sure that they were as neat and tight as possible, that way you can make the most of your mould and it is easier to clean up once you slip cast.

Bubble Pot and Low Plate

I recently added 2 new designs to my collection to make it flow. I designed a round plant pot with the cut out bubbles randomly placed; the pot is shorter than the vases I’ve designed but taller than the fruit bowl. I wanted to have pieces in a range of sizes and shapes, but still keep the theme of recognisable vessel forms visible. I was worried about doing the mould for this pot because the bubbles are cut inwards which creates more potential for the plaster to catch in the different bubble holes. As long as I keep the bubbles minimum, and have the bubble less than half way cut out then the mould should work. The pot required a 3 part mould, and a base for the foot ring, and it worked successfully.


The low plate was designed to be a drop out mould, it was a more simple design, but still had to be thought out well so that it would drop out in one part when cast. The bubbles are extruded out the plate like the vases yet more spaced out around a plate shape. All my designs begin with a basic vessel shape that I split into 5mm layers, I then use this form to match up the layered bubbles to the vessel, and this makes it easier to design my pieces by working to the guide. I go through around 20 variations of each design I’ve done to get the piece right, it's a lengthy process overall.

 Above are just a few images of the moulds and casting in the making.

Underglaze Colour Inspiration

My colour scheme for my ceramic pieces has come fro imagery of valcanic lava in black/charcoal folds, striped icebergs hold deep blues, teal, turquosie and baby blue with icey white.
The video above shows me underglazing a piece after casting and before a bisque firing, the video is quite load so watch you ears. My pieces are being airbrushed with underglaze using these shades:

• WHITE
• PEARL GREY
• DARK GREY
• VELOUR BLACK
• BABY BLUE
• TEAL
• ROYAL BLUE 

Using an underglaze in this way allows me to control a more even coverage, it is an expensive way of glazing my pieces but it is the look I was after. Underglaze leaves a dusted matte coverage which is what I was looking for, a glaze would cause my pieces to lose the sharp edges, however I will be using a clear glaze on the inside of the vessels to make them functional, otherwise if water was put in without a sealant they would eventually decompose.

Bubble Side Bowl

The bubble side bowl is an average bowl size, however instead of horizontal layers of perspex I used vertical slices. It was designed to be a one part mould again, but soon became a two part mould as I decided to make it smooth on the inside as shown below. The dish will be quite shallow and it was designed for decoration and/or a small fruit bowl or storage dish. The slipcast colour of the piece is still unknown as I havent reached the point of testing colours, but it will take a shade from my Icy Colour Scheme. I've included a 3D rendering of the fruit parts I created for demonstrating my bowls uses.                                    

Bubble Fruit Bowl

My fruit bowl model was designed to be a one part drop out mould instead of extruding bubbles I decided to use bubbles that I would subtract from a solid bowl shape. I went through 26 models to get to my preferred aesthetic. The bowl is quite large and would be suitable as a decorative bowl or fruit bowl as demonstrated in my 3D rendering below. Ive also included a close up photograph of the inside of the bowl mould to show the high detail achieved using a perspex mould.


The bowl will be slipcast in a colour from my ice colour scheme inspired by ice, cooled lava, and snowy mountains.
Compared to the vases the bowl will be more interesting to slip cast as you will be able to see the inside of the layers. Im curious to see whether the straight edges will be lost to the slip, either way the inside of the bowl has just as much interest as the outside.

Vase Models

 The perspex models were made for the sole purpose of making a mould, but once they were assembled they became beautiful pieces in themselves which has inspired me to create lights using the same materials and shapes. I can be more adventurous with the shapes of the lights compared to the models for casting as it wont need to come out the mould. I want to experiment with blue perspex in keeping with my colour scheme for my ceramics of shades of ice. I might also incorporate wood for the contrast. 

Bubble Vase #2

After the sucess of the first vase mould, I decided to create a second vase to the shape of a conventional vase form as shown below, the bubbles are still randomly placed to avoid a perfectly symetrical design, bubbles form randomly so I wanted my designs to do so. I used a well known vase shape as a guide to attach the bubbles to, then hollowed out the model, this makes better use of the perspex and makes the model lighter, therefore easier to cast from in plaster.

Layered Bubble Vase #1

I researched into other natural formations such as lava and ice. When lava hits ice it reacts by creating bubbles in the lava, as seen on a YouTube video shown by Syracuse University. I also looked at the reaction caused when a volcano erupts under a frozen sea, it causes ice bubbles to form on the surface, the layering of the ice bubbles inspired me to use bubble shapes in my designs. 

I created a varied sized collection of layered bubbles in Solidworks, I then used them to assemble a vessel shape. I placed the bubbles around a cylindrical shape to keep some structure to the vessel but the bubbles have been assembled randomly. I then hollowed out the vessel.

The vase design I've produced was too large for the Universities 3D printer so I decided to make the model in slices using lasercut perspex. I made the model hollow to make the most of the perspex sheet. Each layer is 5mm thick and was assembled and glued with technicol, a perspex glue that dries clear.

I then used the model to create a 3 part plaster mould, 4 parts including the foot ring, the first model I made had a melted edge left from the lasercutter so when I tried to take it out the mould it got caught and took of some of the edges. This was a big problem so I lasercut the model again and scraped away the edge with a stanley knife and tried again. This time it came out perfectly.

Below is the vase design sheet and 3D rendering decorated with some poppy flowers.

Eroded Piece

Looking at eroded rock formations I decided to take my last mould from the layered piece and cast a plaster model that I could carve into and then make a mould from it and cast it in slip. however I didn’t like the final outcome.

Design Development

From my layered piece I decided to save time making other designs and use Solidworks first to test designs before making. After distorting my first casting accidently it gave me the idea of giving more shape to the pieces, and started to merge layered shapes together. This created an interesting feature where slithers of parts would come out of the piece. I’d like to take this further, looking at possibilities with lighting.  

 I have tried using a range of thicknesses with the layers, random shaped layers to create a dinted surface I have looked at other formations such as stalagmites and stalactites and incorporated it into the layered designs as shown below.

I have much more development to do within my designs, but first I need to research into lighting and tableware, slip casting techniques and 3D printing in Ceramics. To see if there are any techniques I can test before making my final designs. Maquettes made from laser cut layers of wood or perspex would be a quick and easy way of testing forms by hand, they are easily moved and changed compared to using a computer.