Katie Plumb

Above the images show how the clay is weighed in relation to how big the sculpture is going to be. Colour is added as a percentage of the weight of the clay ( this is normally done as a dry weight when mixing glazes) Each ball of clay is wedged until the colour is spread evenly throughout. The clay is then layered, squashed and sliced over and over again until the strata is the required thickness. In this example, the clay was being layered in multiple colours for nine cuboid

Having read the section by Kathleen Standen in the book Additions to Clay Bodies, I had an urge to make my own collection of stained clay test tiles - similar to the 'sweetie box' of tiles made by Kathleen. The best clay to test colour is a white clay. I had a bag of grogged porcelain to hand and so began the process of weighing, mixing, adding, blending, shaping and marking. I used 30 balls of 50g of porcelain. Each ball was flattened and the colour added. Initially, I add

Happy New Year! Today started with a good idea of where I wanted to go next and what I needed to do to move forward. The clay I had prepared before the Christmas break had hardened but was still a little too soft to gouge - I therefore left it in the open to 'mature'. Meanwhile, I procrastinated. I knew what I wanted to do but was unsure of the best way to go about it...think, logically. I decided that whilst I was thinking I would practice my throwing skills. 9 wedged balls

OK, this is a whole new territory for me, which, if Im organised, could go well! Having asked my peers and Geoff about colouring clay I set off armed with sieves, pestle and mortar, dried clay, scales, pots etc. I divided the clay powder into pots of 100g each Into each pot (12 in all) I added 1g, 3g, 5g, 7g, 9g and 11g's of either blue underglaze or yellow underglaze powder. Add a little water and sieve. Sounds simple but...it takes ages and is quite fiddly. It must be sieve