What’s in the Saggar?

ByJoseph Travis

For the uninitiated, I should explain what a Saggar is, it is a big piece of pottery that smaller pottery is sealed in.  Traditionally this was done in Stoke on Trent to protect the pottery from the coal fire that they fired their kilns with. Modern Potters use them to get a reduction environment inside an electric kiln, this stops the kiln from getting damaged and brings some different effects to the pots. I threw a a saggar a few years ago and it has been sat on the top shelf on my studio for a few years now, not…

Writing really does matter to me

ByJoseph Travis

I loved my time on the “Writing Matters” workshops that were provided by MIRIAD for researchers. There are some really skilled writers with distinct voices in the group. It has made me want to write more but not in a stiff academic way, but in a more human flowing voice. Talking to other members of the group about my writing and my research revealed to me that what I was actually interested in my work is actually communication. I had never thought about it this way but all my research and thinking seems to point towards looking at different ways…

The Joy of Slip

ByJoseph Travis

There is simplicity in slip, the mixing of clay and water to a smooth homogenous liquid. Slip decoration is so seductive and there is something about the playfulness of surface that it brings. There are some amazing potters that slip decorate on Instagram like Naofumi Maeno, and Kazuhiro Ashizawa I am always jealous of their surfaces. Doug Fitch has been a major influence on my work too and love talking clay with him. Though slip is something I fell in love with around the time I met Adam Field, I saw he was doing carving with a tool much broader…

The Importance of Playing

ByJoseph Travis

Last time I wrote about the importance of a narrow focus, I considered writing this one about having a broad focus. I changed my mind when I remembered Michael Kline’s post “play the Pro” which was about how we are all hobbyists at times. Michael has been playing around with slip inlay, and spent quite some time with the work under wraps until he felt more confident with it. But this playfulness in the working process brings a level of joy. Having closed down Red Fox Pottery in 2012 I stepped away from clay to become an art teacher. Teacher…