These open cast glass platters came out of a series of experiments with kiln casting on sand. I wanted to use recycled glass to create my own forms inspired by some of my treasures from beach combing. So with sea-glass and tiny shells in mind I started testing combinations of silica sands as a casting bed. I wanted a mixture that would hold fine detail of actual seashells pressed into the sand yet wouldn’t stick to the glass when molten.

After a lot of experimentation I found a blend of particle sizes that would work. The detail in the platter rims is created by shells from my beach gently impressed into the sand bed with tweezers and then removed. The sheets of glass are then slumped at casting temperatures over fibre molds I created then embedded into the sand bed inside the kiln. The glass picks up some texture from the sand as well giving a very marine feel to the piece.

The bands of colour are created with coloured glass gravel and sands sieved over the main sheets of glass that create the body of the piece. I made delicate thrown porcelain cups reminiscent of the limpets and cockles cast into the rims which can be used for serving nibbles or sauces. The sets are made to be used as well as admired, food served on the long thin platters looks very sophisticated, and the more portrait proportioned pieces can be used as individual plates as well as serving pieces.

These images show some of my favourite pit-fired pieces which I have kept in my own collection. Pit-firing is a wonderful process for me because it is deeply connected to my environment and the seasons. The process starts with gathering materials for the combustible nest which fumes each vessel. I walk the beach to harvest the right seaweed and visit some of the family farms to get the cow dung that insulates the pieces and slows their cooling as the fire dies out. Other materials are gathered from my garden and the hills around the studio.

All the colour in the surfaces comes from the materials burned around each piece and how it is nestled in the flames. The pieces themselves are generally wheel thrown porcelain, burnished when leather-hard then low fired to retain enough porosity to absorb the fumes released by the organic materials in their ‘nest’. After firing I seal the surfaces with a smooth wax which highlights the satin burnishing and stops the oil from finger prints from marking the surface.

Some of the surfaces I inscribe with text using a razor at the leather-hard stage prior to the first firing. The texts I use are lines from poems, books, or songs that have shaped my understanding of life in some way. I think of the words as being scared into the surfaces, they become an integral part of the vessel, inviting touch for discovery as fingertips trace the letters to understand the phrases.

The markings on each piece are unique, a fusion of shape, materials, and process. The flame fuming of the pit-fire works in harmony with the round shapes of these vessels. The flames are able to lick the shape with out sharp lines breaking their flow. The result is a visually engaging surface with a strong tactile quality which I find a particularly satisfying combination in an art object.

This was a project I did with a church on a community retreat weekend in Newcastle, Co. Down. The group had taken the theme for the weekend from the Bible verse in Psalm 1 which speaks of a person being like a ‘tree, planted by rivers of water’. I interpret this metaphor as an image of ‘rooted-ness’ , of understanding one’s source and one’s dependance on God for life and sustenance. This project was designed to allow participants to interact in a personal way with the metaphor by making their own leaves for the tree and by creating ‘ribbons’ of water for the river inscribed with text that they had found sustaining in their own life.

As this was an inter-generational project, the art materials were chosen to be accessible to any age. Participants approached the art table and created their own elements to be incorporated into the mural at the end of the weekend retreat.

In preparation for the weekend I painted a background on three panels as a tryptic. After the weekend retreat concluded I gathered the elements and assembled the mural at home adding texture to the tree trunk and weaving fine threads of shiny card and sparkly glue through the river to create a sense of motion. The tryptic was then mounted on board and open framed so that the elements could still be touched.

Tomorrow I start a paper-making course at my son’s school. It has been a little while since I have taught it so I am giving myself a little refresher tonight. I went through all my mold and deckle sets and tightened up the mesh on the small molds. I checked the blenders to see that they still run after being in storage, and found lots of squeezys of paper pulp fro previous sessions to help us start off. The school is in its final year of application for the green flag eco-schools credenitals. We will be recycling the shredded paper from the office (with colourful additions of course) then I plan to move on to incorporating vegetable matter. I find banana skins and broccoli stocks work nicely but anything fibrous can be used, artichoke hearts are beautiful, but rather a lot of work to prepare. Looking forward to working with the kids and getting my hands in lovely paper pulp.