In the art of pottery-making, the standard approaches to forming and shaping vessels fall into the coil, the slab, the mold and the wheel methods. Although the Octahedral Porcelain Process uses a few elements of these methods, it is essentially an entirely new approach to vessel building, drawing more from the fine art of sculpture. This process also takes full advantage of the dense and fine properties of liquid porcelain which render it a material as strong as steel and as delicate as glass when fired to maturity.

The Octahedral Porcelain Process is a sculptural method in which, after forming a solid sphere or block of clay from gradually evaporated porcelain slip and small clay pieces, each individual work goes through a series of slow transformations of form. A solid block is carefully truncated to a more symmetrical polyhedral shape whose angles are compressed into the smooth curves of a sphere whose interior is then carefully sculpted into a hollow vessel with a near perfectly fitted lid. Through each transformation of the piece as it gradually goes from soft to leather hard, it begins to show more and more elements of its final, symmetrical, embedded design.

As the slow evaporation of water and the gentle rotations of the artist's hands and tools work the vessel into its final near-perfect spherical shape, time itself acts as a potter's wheel which smooths and rounds out the final appearance of each finished piece. The balanced distribution of moisture during evaporation helps the clay to achieve equilibrium at every stage. This carefully monitored evaporation is the most essential transforming factor in the Octahedral Porcelain Process and the one which gives the artist the ability to properly work the clay during its various stages.

PREPARATION

Slip

Block Palettes

Cylinder Palettes

Tools

Recyclables