This page was last updated on 4.1.04
Check back often!
4.1.04: This is not a very good picture, but it was the best I could do as I was running out the door to get to work. The swirlies on the right still need to be attached...
4.1.04: Seconds after the lid is opened!
3.30.04: Seconds before the lid closes on the kiln for the chalice's second firing - cross your fingers!
3.30.04: The components (along with some other misc. projects) wait in a little care package to be transported to the studio to be fired. :)
3.30.04: The glazing is finished!
3.29.04: At this point, most of the glazing is done. The greenish-brownish color will be the pewter color shown below and the black will be black.
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3.13.04: Test Glazes!
It's really hard to capture in a digital picture how these colors look in real life - these pictures suck!
I am leaning toward the bottom color (the Mayco 'pewter', a very nice silver metallic) w/ the black for the linework. Lemme know if you absolutely can't stand it...
3.5.04: Monsignor, your chalice has finally gone through its first firing! Next up will be test tiles of different color schemes to pick from. :)
12.19.03: The trimmed, evened, and smoothed bowl has just been attached to the base. Now the whole piece will have to completely dry out before being loaded into the kiln and fired. The swirlies will be fired separate and attached later. Total construction time (including drying time during construction): 44 hours, 45 minutes.
12.7.03: Now onto the bowl... Clay has been mashed into a press mold. The inside will get smoothed with a rib tool, then the clay will be popped out of the bowl form and the outside will get smoothed w/ a rib. Then the bowl will be trimmed down and evened out on the wheel.
12.6.03: This is the final shape of the base of the chalice. An artistic executive decision has been made to not carve out the round balls that are in the drawing. The way it is now has a balanced aesthetic fluidity from top to bottom, where the addition of the balls would interrupt that and make it gaudy. The entire surface has been smoothed with a burnisher.
The remaining moments before the last of the trimming...
This last section took a lot of breath-holding because the tools were so close to other already finished parts - one wrong move could have been a very bad thing.
And finally, the last section is started.
12.6.03: The middle rings have been trimmed down.
Trying to get those middle rings down...
12.4.03: More trimming of the upper middle section :)
The top and bottom of the base have been roughly shaped. Now the middle just needs to harden up a little bit before the last two sections can be brought out.
The top shape is emerging
Now I've switched directions and am working from the top of the base down. It's best to get the top finished before shaping the middle because the middle is still very wet on the inside... and, therefore, weak. If I were to trim down the middle and then try to trim the top, the light pressure from touching the trimming tool onto the clay would push everything off center from the middle up.
More trimming :)
The bottom has been shaped to start matching the sketch
12.2.03: The shape is starting to come out on the very bottom.
Enough has been trimmed away now that the final shape of the base is ready to be brought out at the bottom.
More trimming.
11.25.03: Trimming.
11.25.03: The top of the lump needs to be trimmed down to the exact measurement of the drawing in order to get the rest of the proportions right. The spiral was the first trim. Keep an eye on how the metal bowl to the right fills up... ;)
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11.13.03: The clay has now air-dried for 7 hours and is stiff enough for trimming in the next session. :)
11.11.03: A big lump of clay has been centered on the wheel. This lump is 8" tall, 7" around at the base, and weighs roughly 20 lbs. After it dries and hardens up a little, it will then be trimmed down and carved out to make the base of the chalice.
Measuring rings have been drawn on the bat to help in keeping the proportions close to those of the drawing.
This is a picture of the wheel on which the base for the chalice will be made. A bat (the white disc) has been placed on the wheelhead so the chalice base can be moved later without having to cut it off the wheel and have it lose its centering.
Life-sized sketch of the chalice (not actual size here), with measurements for easy comparison to the real thing during construction.
