Nichos workshops
Published August 25, 2011Nichos!
A Nicho is a small shrine shaped to reflect the nature of its content such as buildings, hearts, cats, Brad Pitt, chickens and angels.
They may be self standing, wall hung or even worn as necklaces and are meant to serve as personal devotional altars. They can be fairly ornate or very simple as the mood dictates.
This is a Mexican Nicho made of painted wood showing the path of romantic love…
This is a contemporary ceramic Nicho showing a Sumerian deity.
Nichos come in all shapes and forms…this is another Mexican one
I would like to offer up a workshop in 3 parts where we create a small altar to something that feel important. It could be music, chickens, food, nature or anything you find amusing or lovely. It can even be something you don’t like but would like to play with.
Saturday 10th of September 11-3pm;
During the first workshop we will discuss the design of our Nichos and make our own sprig molds (simple one piece molds) out of plaster of Paris – these will form the basis for our Nichos.
To this workshop you will need to bring small objects to cast . They can be anything from children’s plastic toy animals, shells, simple jewellery or ferns and plants. If you can’t think of anything to bring, I have a lot of suitable items in my studio for you to use.
Cost; £40 for the day, including all materials, tuition and firings plus tea, coffee and cake!
Please bring a packed lunch!
Saturday 17th of September 11-3pm
Today we assemble our Nichos using the sprig molds we created last week.
Cost; £40 for the day, including all materials, tuition and firings plus tea, coffee and cake!
Please bring a packed lunch!
Cost; £40 for the day, including all materials, tuition and firings plus tea, coffee and cake!
Ceramic workshop in Hastings
Published May 17, 2011
During this workshop we concentrated on exploring textures while making ceramic bowls using hump and press molds. The bowl to the left is made by draping sheets of clay across a plaster hump mold and removing it a few hours later when the clay has hardened enough to keep the shape. We still had to shore it up with a towel tightly wrapped across the bottom of the bowl…
I love collecting plants from the garden to use in my workshops
Quaker grass…
Jo is making a bowl using a press mold and ferns
Andrew opted for ferns, too.
My next ceramic workshop is planned for Sunday 22May at 10.30-1pm. Please contact me here if you’d like to attend. My workshops are suited for everyone whatever previous experience. There are still two places available!
Anna’s Pottery & Ceramic Sculpture Workshops.
Published May 12, 2010- Make a bowl without using a wheel
- Create beautiful ceramic sculptures using simple techniques
- Glaze and Smoke fire your sculpture
- Introduction to plaster casting
- Try out techniques developed by working artists…and let me fire your imagination!
Come and discover how much fun you can have with a piece of clay in my workshops. I’m a successful ceramic sculptor and I love sharing my skills and experience in small, hands on workshops in my fantastic Old Town Hastings studio.
Make your own unique pieces; have fun creating something that changes from clay to an objet d’art in front of your eyes.
Weekend smoke firing workshop
Published February 8, 2010
Weekend smoke firing workshop for beginners. No previous experience necessary.
The workshop span two weekends and cost £35 per weekend and include all materials, tuition and a lovely lunch.
First workshop take place Sunday 7th March at 10-3pm at my studios in Dudley Road in Hastings.
During this session we create ceramic bowls and sculptures which I’ll bisque fire ready for our second meeting on Sunday 21st March 10-3pm when we will smoke fire the work in the garden outside my studio. Smoke firing in galvanised dustbins using sawdust is a technique I have worked on for over 10 years and I believe it is unique to me. It is amazingly easy to learn, though, and fun.
Maximum of 5 per workshop – please book quickly to avoid disappointment. There is a deposit of £10 to secure a place.
Smoke fired Fat Birds.
Please email me here for further information.
Ceramic torso, again
Published June 22, 2009Last time I tried to build a ceramic torso it broke as I moved it
And she ended up here
After kicking my heels playing with the House Gods for a few weeks I made another attempt
Adding a scorpio for good luck…
Please scroll down the page to see earlier entries on House Gods, smoke firing and workshops
Fire and Earth, part two.
Published April 28, 2009With smoke firing you never know what end result you are going to get.
There are so many variables. For example, saw dust burns a lot slower than wood shavings. It matters what size holes you have drilled in the side of your smoke chamber ( in my case, dustbin).
This torso
was glazed with the same glaze and oxides as this one…
and this one. The one difference is the amount of soot I added to the saw dust and the way I packed the wood shavings and saw dust around the torso. I have found that copper oxide will turn bright red under very strong reduction so I try to starve the atmosphere inside the smoke chambers of oxygen. To learn more about smoke firing, and get a chance to experiment and play, you are welcome to join my ceramic and smokefiring workshops in Hastings.
Please scroll down the page to see more posts on smoke firing, body casting and other ceramic techniques.
One day life casting work shop.
Published March 3, 2009My left foot! Your right hand!
I am running a one day life casting workshop from my studio in Hastings. Life casting, or body casting as it is also called, is not difficult to learn in principle – but is is quite tricky to get right so we’ll start by casting each others left foot, or right hand. The aim is that everyone will return home the proud owner of one extra limb! The number of participants will be limited to six
and if you want to join me, please email me here or go to www.ANNAKEILLER.co.uk to read more about my workshops.
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