'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

Go here to find out more.

Monday 25 May 2009

Making a kiln


Today we went up into the hills above Tauranga and 

dug terra cotta clay from a bank,

dug sand from the banks of a stream,

 mixed the two together about half and half, pressed the mix into molds


and made bricks 
with which we will make a kiln 
in which we will fire our clay objects!


11 comments:

  1. Val25.5.09

    Impressive - well done! look forward to seeing the clay objects :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. jay26.5.09

    Wow! Nothing like going back to basics, is there?

    So, do you just let the bricks dry in the sun?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jinksy26.5.09

    Better than mud pies...

    ReplyDelete
  4. bARE-eYED sUN26.5.09

    what a great idea! looking forward to reading about the entire project.

    :-)

    thank you, Kath,
    as always you ARE a motivation.

    ..
    .ero

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rosaria Williams26.5.09

    Wow, lots of work and lots of good results.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yorkshire Pudding26.5.09

    If you peruse ebay, I'm sure you could find yourself a bargain kiln and then you wouldn't have to go to all this trouble vandalising the river banks and landscape of the hills above Tauranga!
    Only kidding. Sounds like a great project.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kate27.5.09

    Jay, the bricks need to dry slowly out of the sun, and then they will form the wall of the kiln, and fire themselves in the process.
    I think.
    I should ask that guy in the check shirt. He's our tutor.

    YP, it is a great project, and, in addition, the finished pieces have more value with the story... It's all to do with contextual art.

    Thank you sUN, Val.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Grit28.5.09

    this is so amazing, i want us all to come and do this course!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kate6.6.09

    Jay - I have checked with my tutor and he says we'll fire the bricks in the kiln on campus, as it's a bit of a chore rotating them etc if you fire them the other way, which would be the older, more authentic method of course.

    ReplyDelete
  10. rwhendrix10.2.10

    Interesting to see that you tried this. I thought I was nearly the only one crazy enough to try making and firing clay bricks for a kiln. Good for you!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kate10.2.10

    Welcome to TLVD rw. Thanks for your comment but er... we didn't get any where near enough bricks made. Let's say 'yet'. Project is ongoing.

    Personally, I'd love to make enough bricks for a small house. That would be wonderful, to live in a house you made yourself!

    I'll come and 'visit' you soon.

    ReplyDelete

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