Throwing large porcelain bowls
About 6 kg of porcelain clay, nice and soft and well prepared.
First I slap the clay into the center with my hands, that'll safes a lot of hard work when throwing.
Then I apply plenty of water and center. I use a sponge in one hand to keep it well rubricated. Once well centred I start coning the clay to make it more workable on the wheel.
Opening the centre and compressing the base.
A couple of pulls and widening into the bowl shape.
Et voilà
Follow the process of turning a tall cylindrical porcelain vase from start to finish. After joining two leatherhard cylinders I turn them on a chuck to get them to the desired thickness. The turning has to be done quite carefully because I want to avoid any undo pressure at the rim section, which could crack very easily. The cylinder has to be very evenly leatherhard and the tool freshly sharpened.
Printing on clay
with oxides using a photocopier / laser printer
This video shows the process of transferring the print to a slab of clay and throwing it into a plate /platter
The oxide is mixed with water and brushed onto the print. The black toner repels water and the white paper areas attract it. This creates a negative image that can be transferred onto a clay slab. I prime the slab with a little bit of slip to bind the oxide better to it.
Once the transfer is complete the paper can be carefully removed to reveal the print. A little tidying up and the plate is done.
Watch Markus glazing and firing pieces for the ‘EARTH, FIRE AND WATER ’ COLLECTION
See the process of making porcelain cups. Here you can see the making in detail.
Throwing cylindrical cups. The challenge is to shape the porcelain clay which is very soft and not very plastic into thin walled cups. There are many ways of doing that. Here you can see what methods I am using. The walls and lip are thrown as thin as the clay allows. Once the cups have dried to leather hard they are being turned to reduce the thickness even further to create a cup that is translucent.
