Haan Museum of Indiana Art
Pulley, Robert (01) 1979
Early Vessel 1979. This piece was created right out of Graduate School (MA Ball State U.) I was living on Lafayette Street in Columbus and working in a small studio in our basement. This piece would have been before I built my gas kiln at Bill Melvin’s on Hwy. 46 west. I took a load of new work to Bethel Pike in Muncie and fired it in their 100 cu. ft. kiln. This would have been fired there.
This piece features colored clay on the top and sides. I started using colored clay in graduate school, but gave it up after a few years. It was hard to know what to do with the scraps and I became concerned that some of the colorants (esp. chrome) would be toxic to breath and to be absorbed. But the affect is nice.
At this point I was still staining the clay with iron oxide before I glazed it. This worked pretty well under some kiln atmospheres, but if left reduced, it turned to black iron and made the surface dull and grey. Dennis Kirchman suggested I use copper carbonate instead as it appears warmer in reduction. I soon switched to copper.
Pulley, Robert (01) 1979
Early Vessel 1979. This piece was created right out of Graduate School (MA Ball State U.) I was living on Lafayette Street in Columbus and working in a small studio in our basement. This piece would have been before I built my gas kiln at Bill Melvin’s on Hwy. 46 west. I took a load of new work to Bethel Pike in Muncie and fired it in their 100 cu. ft. kiln. This would have been fired there.
This piece features colored clay on the top and sides. I started using colored clay in graduate school, but gave it up after a few years. It was hard to know what to do with the scraps and I became concerned that some of the colorants (esp. chrome) would be toxic to breath and to be absorbed. But the affect is nice.
At this point I was still staining the clay with iron oxide before I glazed it. This worked pretty well under some kiln atmospheres, but if left reduced, it turned to black iron and made the surface dull and grey. Dennis Kirchman suggested I use copper carbonate instead as it appears warmer in reduction. I soon switched to copper.