The Kunda forms have been burnished using a small sphere ended metal tool. This method is completely new to me. The affect created came purely from experimentation, a desire to painstakingly capture the ability and expanse of clay. While evening out the surface with a looped carving tool small indentations are created in the surface, when burnished with the sphere ended tool not only are these small marks highlighted by the shine, not smoothed out, but new small indentations are created by the small sphere. Ripples are created in the clay.
This process takes delicacy and patience. While burnishing the time passed by, hour after hour floated as I concentrated on the surface and it’s curves. These forms took hours to polish. I lost all awareness of the passing of time.
The marks of the surface of these forms reflect above all else a sensitivity. It isn’t possible to work the material in this way without being completely, gently, invested.
Once fired this shine will stay. Burnishing pulls the small amounts of grit to the surface of the clay. When this happens the material’s surface gains depth. It literally pulls to the surface the elements of the material, the smallest of grains of the different elements. There’s something similar in this to looking at the night sky. The longer you look the more small dots appear which collect to form this embracing infinite depth. For me, within clay, this type of depth is possible, especially when you work and fire the material in a way that allows this depth to appear.
As greenware, unfired, the clay is incredibly delicate in it’s current state. I was originally planning to leave one vessel unfired. So that the unfired greenware could dissolve while exposed to the elements and fall into the fired vessel, which is sunk into the earth. It has now become clear that to transport one of these forms unfired back to the location of Kunda would result in it being completely broken before it was installed. I will have to fire them both. Perhaps I will alter the porosity of one vessel to re-instate some contrast in the ability of the forms to hold.
Now burnished, this is the last stage of the clay in it’s green blue colour. Soon, once dry, they will be fired and the iron released.
