Making a Nautilus Bowl from start to finish

Making a Large Nautilus Fruit Bowl. The bowl is thrown with 2kg of white stoneware clay, then left to firm up overnight. I then mix up a slip (liquid clay) made of the same clay bit with added colourants (iron, cobalt, manganese, chrome) to produce a black slip. This is applied to the inside of the bowl with a large syringe, then the wheel speed is slowed right down and the pattern is stamped using a soft rubber rib. The bowl is left for another day for the slip to dry and fuse with the clay of the bowl. It is now one solid piece of clay. Before wiring off the batt (the wooden disc it was thrown on), I trim the rim back to remove any splashes of the black slip. I then wire off and set aside to dry for a further day or two before it can be trimmed. I trim a foot and burnish the clay smooth, then stamp my logo into the semi-soft clay. After a few more days drying the piece is ready for its first firing to 1000c, which converts the clay into ceramic. Up until this point it could have
Back to Top