Artists Tell Their Stories: Ana Cavalcanti, Ceramic Artist, Tells Her Story

Artists Tell Their Stories: Ana Cavalcanti, Ceramic Artist, Tells Her Story: I always thought I didn't have one drop of artistic talent in my blood, I couldn’t draw well or paint and although I app...

Mud War, First Batlle is Finished

I finally finished the first layer of the oven last Monday, May 2. The clay was in a better workable state, but still took me sometime to finish it. Mostly because at the end I didn't have any more clay, so I went to my studio and SURPRISE! I found red clay in a very good condition. This clay has been there for years, I don't even know what clay it is, but it was there waiting for me to finish the dome of the oven, so I added sand to it and finished the top. I let the oven dry for two days with a canvas to help it dry and a tarp on top of it to protect it from the rain. While I waited these two days I listed some of my jewelry on my Etsy store. Check it out:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/anacavalcanti?ref=si_shop

Today the clay was harder than when I finished it last Monday, so I could cut the door and get all the sand, bricks and newspaper from inside. I thought it would be hard to take the bricks out, I had filled two bags of sand when the second brick finally came out, after that the others were easy to remove. The inside was still very wet, so the newspaper was badly stuck and removing it was difficult. I used my heat gun from my studio and dry the inside a bit, so the paper would come out easier.


After all the sand and newspaper were out I measured the door again, did some adjustments and shaped it better. Now I have the first layer. Next is the insulation layer, but that has to wait until next Monday. This weekend is a busy one.
A photographic summary of these days is on the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3fz9eohSSE

Mud Oven War day 3

I never wanted a pug mill so much! I usually recycle all my clay by hand, but never had to recycle this much of clay at once. 

First time I did this project I used clay from construction sites. It was hard to separate the clay from all the rocks, but the clay was not too hard. Second time I made the oven I used the clay from my studio which was already recycled, so it was a piece of cake. But this time I'm using the clay from the previous oven I destroyed and it was hard as rock. I soaked in water overnight, but still some chunks were dry and hard inside. After spending an hour trying to break the clay, I decided to bring my wedging table outside and wedge little by little. 

It was a slow day, painful too, but I accomplished half oven by patting and slapping the clay around the sand mold that this time was covered with newspaper, so the clay doesn't stick to it. 

This afternoon I had to go to Nina's school for a spring festival, so I couldn't finish the first layer, but Nina's class did beautifully, it was worth stopping the job at the middle of it. 

Tomorrow is Sunday, I might finish the other half or not. I covered everything with plastic so it will not get dry. It is easier if the clay is moist to get a good joint. And would be even easier if I haven't started this whole thing three years ago, but if I haven't started how would I know?

Mud Oven War, the battle continues day 2

OUCH! It hurts! My hands, my neck, my back... . One might think this is a child's job, playing with sand, making a big cake out of it. But for sure it is the most difficult and annoying part of the project, and a crucial one too. The sand mold is the void of the oven, the open space for my pizza, bread or pit fire pots if once more it doesn't work for coking, after all I'm a potter, not a baker. In addition, it works as a mold for the outside part of the oven.

Since this is my third time and I know how hard this part is, I decided to do two short cuts.  First I have to draw a circle 22.5 inches wide for the mold template. It is hard to do it on paper since I'd have to join two newspaper sheets and when I start to put sand on it, it gets messy, rips, etc... So I found a piece of Styrofoam still from my kiln package, measured and cut it a nice 22.5 inches circle. Second, I didn't have a lot of sand and I didn't want to put any more money into this crazy project, so I put some extra bricks to be the core of the sand mold. It didn't only save me a lot of sand, but also helped the walls to be straight until it had to go into a curve. I also used the bricks to secure a piece of bamboo to let me know where to stop. After lots of add here, subtract there, lots of hand slapping, smothering, and five hours later a beautiful sand mold was born. Tomorrow I will compact the clay around the sand, and that's sure a double ouch.