January 2025
JANUARY 2025 | ISSUE #052
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Hello Potters
Only another 14 days to go before the pottery shed is back open for business. Have a safe holiday. Ed
From the President
Happy new year everyone.
2024 was a busy and productive year. A massive thanks to all the amazing volunteers who made everything happen. A special thanks to the kiln team who went above and beyond to get everyone’s Xmas gifts through the kiln in time, a massive effort.
Thank you Robyn for your generous donation to the club, it will be well spent in the new year
I have no doubt that 2025 will be a great year at the club with heaps of fabulous workshops already planned, lots of excited new members waiting to join and new projects coming. Can’t wait to see you all at the studio after we reopen on the 14th.
Happy potting
Thanks to Diane and the Sandgate Mens Shed for our new formers. Fabulous work as always
Suzanne
2025 Membership Due
Your annual membership is due by the end of this month, January. If you don’t want to continue please let the Membership officer know on the following email. You have until 1 February 2025 to pay your membership before it is cancelled and the membership gates open for new members. That’s only 30 days, so don’t put it off.
Here’s the link to HelloClub to renew.
If you have a VPN [apologies if you don’t know what I am talking about] you will be able to watch the Xmas Special and the new series of The Great Pottery Throwdown on the UK’s Channel 4 starting this coming 4 January 2025.
With the pottery shed closed for the holidays you must take any opportunity to get your clay fix. But don’t fret if you don’t have a VPN, the show will definitely air on Foxtel and Binge a little bit later in the year.
4 January 2025
Can’t wait!!!
Current Clay Types in Stock
We have a large range of clay in stock, all at great prices. Just ask your supervisor next time you are down at the pottery shed.
Keane White Earthenware 37
Keane White Raku
Keane Mid Fire Lumina
Northcote Clayworks JB1 Porcelain
Blackwattle White Stoneware Paper Clay
Blackwattle Cone 6 White
Blackwattle Terracotta + Grog
Feeneys Fine Blend FFB
Feeneys Buff Raku Sandy
Feeneys Buff Raku Trachyte BRT
Feeneys Raku Gold
Feeneys Red Raku
Walker Stoneware 10
Walker White Handbuilding EW / SW
It was a particularly busy and vibrant night for the final session of the pottery year. The Thursday night group had lots of fun, accompanied by good music, delicious nibbles, and champagne. There was a constant stream of potters coming in to pick up their beautifully fired work, which kept the entire evening engaging and interesting. Amidst the festive atmosphere, there was even time for some last-minute work and creativity in amongst the conversations. Wishing you all the best for the upcoming year.
Happy New Year!
Something Spicy to See Over the New Year Break
With the Australian Museum’s current blockbuster Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru you could be forgiven thinking that the show was all about gold: but you would be mistaken.
Out of the 130 or so artefacts on show, there is also a wealth of ceramics of exquisite beauty that give the glittering objects a keen challenge.
Prominently displayed alongside the coveted golden treasures are a large number of ceramics that rival those found in Ancient Greece for their fine line and form.
This show has a large number of pots from the Moche people, who were in ascendancy over a loosely-knit empire in northern Peru from about 100 to 800 AD.
Dr Jacob Bongers is an Andean archaeologist from the University of Sydney and consultant to the Machu Picchu exhibition, which includes a number of the most explicit erotic ceramics found anywhere in the world.
“These pots were produced by the Moche society around 2000 years ago and they were based on the north coast of Peru,” Bongers said.
Bongers is referring to five pots in the show that differ from the rest in that they display explicit sexual acts or exaggerated genitalia bordering on the grotesque.
Many of these erotic pots are full blown representations of the human body in the form of drinking pots, also known as stirrup pots that were a common form of drinking vessel throughout the region.
Courtesy John Moyle at CityHub
If you happen to be in Sydney, why not visit The Australian Museum and take a peek. Thanks to the member [if I can use that term] that sent in the article.
The Sandgate Art Society Art Show is happening again this Easter. Cash Prizes will be awarded across 2D Art, 3D Art, Photography/Digital Art and Textile/Mixed Media.
The Grace Cross Memorial Textile/Mixed Media award has been established to honor the late Grace Cross. Grace was known for her intricate layered media textile artworks, incorporating elements like rusting fibres, paper, stitching, beading and/or embellishments. Submissions in this category can be either 2D or 3D and must incorporate stitch + mixed media. Spread the word and start preparing your entries.
Exhibition 17 – 19 April, 2025
Entries open 7th February.
We’re excited to announce that the Arts Trail is returning in 2025.
WHEN: 4 weekends in June (starting on Saturday 31 May) from 10am-4pm
WHERE: in various studios, galleries and art spaces across the Samford, Dayboro, Clear Mountain and surrounding region.
Artist Registration is Now Open: trails@creativesamford.com
We have popped all of the published tips, hacks and techniques onto the ‘Tips’ page on our club website so that you can refer to them easily.
Marbling Clay
Marbling clay is the process for creating multiple colour layers or effects in your pottery. You can either use different coloured clays, or you can stain the clay to produce different colours. If you use different clays be careful to make sure they have the same firing range and shrinkage rate, otherwise it will be disastrous. The safest way is to start with the same clay and add different colours by using stains or oxides. This way you won’t have any firing dramas.
Recommended percentages for stains are between 8% and 12% and for oxides between 2% and 4%. Mix the powdered colourants with water to make a paste, then work that into the clay and wedge until the colour is uniform. Don’t forget to wear gloves when working the coloured paste into the clay.
After making up a variety of different coloured clays, you can then begin your construction process. Either prepare your clay for throwing or handbuilding. If you handbuild, roll each piece of coloured clay into a coil, flatten with a rolling pin and then stack, patting them down each time to stick them together.
Basically you can now make anything you want with this layered clay. Use it as stripes and cut vertically or elongate the loaf, cut it in half, stack the halves and repeat to thin and refine the layers and make patterns. [see images]
TIP - When slicing the loaf, undulate the cutting wire slightly. This will bring out more of the rings in the cross section.
HACK - to easily centre your clay for throwing and keeping as much of the pattern as possible, make your marbled clay a few days before, put it in the bag and spray with some water.
Our Committee
President: Suzanne Bell
Vice President: vacant
Treasurer: Sandra Roveda
Secretary: Laura Ogden
Committee Members:
Barbara Fletcher, Clare Houston, Rebecca Mason, Kylie Smith, Melina Wales
Newsletter Editor: Ed Trost
edtrost1961@gmail.com
email: shorncliffepotteryclubinc@gmail.com
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…Until next month…
HAPPY POTTING!
