Journal Postings: William Rogers
| (06/08/09): Sloss Cast iron Conference | | Sloss was a one week workshop where I experienced the processed that involved in making a large cast iron mold. The process is similar to a tow-piece plaster mold, but on a much larger scale. Where by the methods are always considering weight and pressure exerted by the sand and metal. The mold is made in two pieces. You start with a patter, which is a 3-D of what will eventually become the negative space that the iron will take up. So i made one side first, flipped it and made the other side. Each side is sand that has been compacted and left to set-up for about eight hours. The sand is so heavy that i needed to make what is called an armor chore. This is a metal skeleton that supports the weight of the sand keeping it from cracking. My sand alone ended up weighting a good 1200 pounds after finishing. The iron piece itself weighing about 300 pounds. |
| (06/08/09): Sloss Cast Iron Conference |  Casting shed and one of the furnaces no longer in use. |
| (06/08/09): Sloss Cast Iron Conference |  This is a picture of the mold after being casted and has been cooling for about ten hours. All the steel weights help keep the top portion from floating and the mold form separating. |
| (06/08/09): Sloss Cast Iron Conference |  This is the cast iron piece after breaking it out of the mold. |
| (06/08/09): Sloss Cast Iron Conference |  Another reason I attended the conference was to help with a performance by friends and local Asheville sculptures who were invited by Sloss to basically come up with an ending to the conference. I helped construct and build these contraptions during my time in Alabama. |
| (05/06/09): "Penland experience", Continued |  During the eights we learned different firing techniques to achieve certain desire atmospheric elements in the fried clay. Some of this evolved several different approaches to the stoking patterns during the firing. We fried the wood kiln four times during eights, we a variety of results. One firing we started throwing water into the front fire box in order to create a clean atmosphere during one of the stages of firing. In this same firing just as we were going to shut the kiln off, we packed the kiln full of wood to create a slow cooling effect which ended in a not so successful firing. But the class and I learned that everyone has a different style of firing according to their own intentions when it comes to wood firing. Also with this class there was always experimentation throughout the time and in this setting the instructors intended to expose the class to every available technique in wood, gas atmospheres. |
| (05/06/09): Penland, Continued |  After every firing the class all gathered don stairs to talk about there experiment firing the kilns that week. And also talk about their pots and what we liked or didn't like about them. We discussed the clay we used, the slip application and if the pieced had a glaze or not. The reasoning behind this was to inform us on what we were seeing and how to take this new information and formulate that into what Greg said as, " a window,or a chase". This idea was that find something you are interested in, whether it be a certain form or color, and chase that effect until you can produced that desired result. |
| (05/06/09): Penland, Continued |  The class had an opportunity to learn how to take professional slices on a potter budget. What the instructors showed us was some simple techniques to get good slides. They used one clap light that was inside a handmade form-core light box which was raised directly over the piece. A photo sensitive neutral grey paper was used to create the backdrop. With in five minutes I had a professional looking slide, it was amazing. This is one of the images that resulted from this technique. |
| (05/06/09): Penland, Continued |  Greg Miller is showing us some of the glazing techniques he learned while he was studying in Japan with Shimaoka Tatsuzo, who was a living national treasure. |
| (04/24/09): Penland, beginnings and endings | | Started eight week concentration at Penland School of Craft. The focus is on functional ceramic work fired in several different types of wood, soda, and salt firings. Since the workshop has began I have been immersed in the dynamics of a fast paced studio environment. Demos everyday and vast information about what the class should expect for the next eight weeks. There's already a plan for a wood firing in the next week. |
| (04/24/09): A pot from the first firing |  We fired the noboragama last week. This technique used is a Japanese brush work called hawkami. The experience has been a valuable study into experimentation in form and function.
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