I travelled to Weimar, Germany after being accepted by Bauhaus-University Weimar for their ‘Coloured Glazes for Architectural Ceramics’ course, which I was incredibly excited to attend!
Bauhaus-University Instagram Stories
Glaze Experimentation
The first day featured a lot of note-taking in the morning followed by some glaze production in the afternoon, as we moved to the workshop! In groups of two, we each chose a mineral to focus on during the following weeks, our group choosing limonite.
We began experimenting with our mineral and transparent glaze, mixing the elements at different ratios and applying the various glazes to biscuit tiles that would later be sent to the kiln.
Glazed tiles before firing
Glazed tiles after firing
As you can see from the photo, the tiles we glazed with the limonite and clear glaze combinations produced very transparent and desaturated outputs, with the conclusion that our mineral did not seem to be reacting well with this particular clear glaze.
Following this experiment, we swapped out the mineral with a compatible oxide, in our case, this was iron oxide. We carried out the experiment in the same way, producing four more tiles to be fired.
Glazed tiles before firing
Glazed tiles after firing
These glazes produced slightly more saturated results, but they’re still fairly transparent.
Following these experiments, we added another component to the equation in the form of a flux with talc. Varying combinations of all three elements were mixed to create a total of 64 different glazes, each of which was applied to its own single tile. The result of this experiment was a pyramid of tiles, showing gradual change with incremental adjustments of each component.
Clay Tile Production
Midway through the course, while waiting for our glazed tiles to return from the kiln, we started looking at precedents using architectural ceramics on exterior facades, in preparation of designing and forming our own ceramic tiles to be fixed onto the full exterior facade of a building. These included:
Gilardi House, Mexico City, Luis Barragan (1975-77)
House and Studio, Mexico City, Luis Barragan (1948)
La Muralla Roja, Alicante, Ricardo Bofill (1973)
Following some of this research, I started brainstorming possibilities in my sketchbook in the day we had prior to the construction of our tiles.
The progression of my idea was initially based on organic matter, particularly coral, which came to mind following one of my inital sketches. Following some further idea development, I landed on the general form I wanted to create from clay the next day, but didn’t have an exact plan as I had already decided I wanted each tile of the facade to be different, given that they would be hand-made. This was completely viable, given that we are working within a hypothetical scenerio, so I decided to have fun with the freedom the task allowed me.
After completing my first tile in good time, I was able to create a second one with remaining clay! To do this, I considered the shape of the first and decided on a rough shape and size, then began forming this without too much precision. Once I had this, I worked beside the existing tile so that I could accurately judge the connection size and shape, applying this to the opening I was creating with the second tile. With regular checking, I managed to create two organic tiles that could connect to one another on an exterior facade. I was incredibly happy with the results.
Colour Exercise
For our final task, we were asked to choose a palette of 5 colours from the tiles we’d earlier produced. I chose to select colours produced by another group within the course, simply due to preference over our own, given that the 5 tiles we’d go on to produce were to keep. I took note of the tiles I wished to reproduce from the group and recorded the recipe from their notebook, so that I was able to stick to the same measurements and method when recreating them.
5 Tiles and Glazes Produced by Daniel and Alex
After a brief on colour history, we were asked to choose an artwork by Josef Albers to use as a basis for exploring our colour palette based on our chosen five tiles. To do so, we were instructed to substitute the colours of the selected work with our own, swapping the arrangement of our colours to see the effect of each different combination. I chose to use Josef Albers’ ‘Variant’, as seen below.
Josef Albers’ ‘Variant’
20 Trials of my colour palette arrangments
I decided to chose my sixth iteration as my final design, initially based on the feeling it gave me. I think this feeling can best be described as comforting. The ‘Variant’ has always resembled a face to me, and I found that some of the other trials gave the being quite an unnerving aura, whereas I found this arrangement the most welcoming.
Selected Design
Glaze Reproduction
The glazes I selected in my colour palette required the use of copper carbonate and barium carbonate, so it felt very odd to work with different components while using an identical method.
Compared to our group tasks, with this individual assignment I wanted to be a little more experimental with my brush strokes while applying the glaze to the tiles. The first tile had very little glaze applied, while the second was given quite a few layers. Similarly, the third had thick glaze applied with very contrasting brush strokes with the hopes of creating an interesting texture. The fourth has a normal application of glaze, while the fifth and last tile was given thick glaze with some dabbing brush effect on the final layer.
Tiles prior to firing
Tiles After Firing
I was incredibly happy with the results of the tiles after firing, as they turned out very much how I’d hoped.
Final Exhibition
With the completion of all our work, it was time to display our work for the Bauhaus Summer School Exhibition.
During the exhibition, we recieved our certificates and completed our ‘Coloured Glazes for Architectural Ceramics’ course. I learned so much during the course and thoroughly enjoyed doing so, thanks to our amazing teachers, Franziska Käuferle and Stefano D’Elia.
