Laniakea: Final Glazing 1

The following work is one of my final pieces, the biggest one, which will be an actual tank. 

Inside:

Outer ring: 

ASO1 (Ivory Coast 629) + ASO4 (Dama de Noce FE5713)

Inside sphere: 

Base: BSO 11 (BOTZ 9898 Ice Crystal)

Patterns: 

BSO 10 (Mayco Night Sky EL209)

BSO 12 (BOTZ Bright Blue 9879)

BSO 13 (BOTZ Indigo 9889)

Outside:

ASO1+ASO5/6 ( Black Iris CG 798/ Obsidian CG 786)

Front Ring: Iron Oxide

For the glaze firing, I am planning to fire the work in the direction I showed in the first image. Which means the actual front side will be facing the bottom during firing. Because the work is big and thin, with no supports inside. If I fire it like the first test piece (following image), it may collapse. Not to mention, this is a hair thin crack on the front ring which may crack badly. 

By putting the front side facing down, the ring can keep flat that the glass can fit the work better in the later process. However, to do this, I cannot glaze the front ring. I was suggested that I can paint the front with oxides or underglazes. Then when I retouch it with acrylic after firing, I don't need to start with white. It is not ideal, but it is the only solution I can come up with at the moment. I will do my best to make it look better.

Laniakea: Prototype Glazing and Outcome

Before I made the final big tank with ceramic, I made this one as a test with the same way. I need to make sure the method technically is working. 

Glazes: 

Inside:

Base: BSO 16 

Patterns: 

BSO 12/13/14 - middle part

BSO 10/19 - edge

Outside:

ASO1 + ASO5/6

The surface of the work shows it as a universe bubble that I want to keep it relatively dark. The inside shows the sky of the inner world, I applied lighter bluish glazes. There will be other works inside of the tank, in the same colour as the surface of the tank. Together, there is a contrast between them. 

The next step after glaze firing is to get a piece of glass and glue it to the tank with silicone. 

Firstly I cut a piece of MDF and trim it to the right size.  Then I bring it to a local glass shop where they can use the MDF as a template and cut the glass free handed. The glass itself, cutting and sanding together costed me about 18 pounds. 

Before I glued it with silicone specially for aquariums, I covered part of the glass with masking tape and paper so that the silicone won't mess up the glass. I glued the both sides to make sure the water cannot leak.

After I cleared the cover and filled the tank with water.

The tank worked. No water came out; the inside looks much better with the water inside. Though it is a shame that there is a crack on the top edge of the tank. Also due to the direction I fired, the worked collapse a little so that the front side was not flat enough to fit perfectly to the glass. 

Before I glued the glass on, I put the sand and other works in the tank to have an overview of the composition. I found the figures a too big for the tank, and more light is needed. The acrylic sticks are bigger than my plan. However, the tank will look differently with water inside, I will do the composition again and adjust the setting.

Laniakea: Form Experiment 7

To avoid the cracking happened last time, I covered the template made of wood with masking tape. In this way, the clay body can be separated easily from the wood board. 

The work was built with slabs. I found this way suits me better, as I am not really good at coiling. I used smooth raku clay body, which is stronger and more forgiving. It can hold the structure even without other supports.

I made two mistakes during building; even they didn't cause serious problems at the moment. One happened when I tried to take out the wood. The result was the clay body cracked at the bottom edge.  During the time, I was holding the bottom edge with one hand and trying to knock off the wood with another.  So then the board came off, there weren't enough supports to hold it flat, which caused the clay body distorted and cracked. I should have waited the clay drier so I can turn the work over and hammer the board off on a foam. Or if the work close a bit more when I knocked off the board, it is less likely to distort. Anyway, I was too anxious. Sometimes more patience is needed. 

The good thing is that the clay body was wet enough for me to fix it. 

The other mistake was when I started to close the top. I closed too fast that there was a sudden slope that looked weird. I cut off part of the work I have built and redid it. Otherwise, the tank won't have enough depth when I turned it over, which means the setting for the inside may not fit in.

I didn't have sufficient time to redo a lot, so it came out with a small sphere on the top. It was what I planned, may not be ideal as well, but better than before.

I banished the surface when it was leather hard. By compressing the clay body, it can be more strong.

At the meantime, I did some tests about how to hang my other pieces in the air. I used fishing line since I want the works look like bubbles floating in the air. The more invisible line, the better. 

For all the works I want to hang, I made a hole on them all the way through. In the first image, I used a button like acrylic, letting the line go through the acrylic's two holes, and then back to the top. 

Then I found out that the acrylic was not necessary, so I tried the other way showed in the following image. For the work bigger and heavier, I made two holes to them. Two holes with four lines together should be able to hold the work.

Laniakea: Symposium - A brief review of my project