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        ...which one is this?
Inspired by the magic skies of Dunedin, I have been making clouds and cloud shapes.  A number of considerations have emerged including manufacturing technique and material, size, how they will be presented, surface treatments and adornments, and glazing.

Manufacturing technique and material.  For most of these I rolled a slab and folded it into a cloud shape.  This led to some pointed ends (Clouds 4 and 5).  To increase puffiness, I tried grafting on some puffs, while poking holes in the underlying cloud to avoid explosions.  I built quite a few of the later clouds around wadded newspaper.  All the clouds were HFW except two porcelain and one multiclay cloud form.  Later clouds were cumulus-style,made by grafting on pinch pots to a main form.

Size.  The earliest ones were smaller.  I think I trended towards larger pieces for the raku, plus many people in studio are working in large scale.  However, Chris and Rob noted that Cloud 3 fits nicely in the hand.

How they will be presented.  For early clouds I put two holes in the back so they could be mounted on the wall.  Vases/ones with mouths can be presented on table surfaces.  During this time I made the cloud shape for holding raindrops ("Anatomy of a Cloud") and gave thought to suspending raindrops from the cloud, which brought the notion of suspending the clouds themselves to the fore (see for example Phillippa Lloyd's jellyfish (+)).  This should be doable with the hole-y ones (Clouds 8 and 17) and I did make make later clouds with more attention to how they will be hung.  The raindrops, in porcelain, are an exciting tangent, and I have been trying to produce a lot of them.    

Surface treatments and adornments.  I put a lot of work into an interesting texture on Cloud 10, but the raku glazing almost completely obscured it.  My 25 March conversation with Chris focused on the need to push the design of the shapes—for example adding a mouth like the third and seventh ones and/or texture or holes.  This helped lead to the faucet, holey, multiple clay, and seaweed cloud forms.  With Clouds 16 and 17, I came upon the idea of adding dabs of clay.  In late April I finally attempted a first cumulus cloud, Cloud 21, made of porcelain.  Using a pastry tube I was able to add nice fine squiggles.

Glazing.  Early on, I held off glazing most of the clouds pending test tiles, except the raku ones, which did not turn out great although a couple are okay (+), and Cloud 3 in White Iris, which I quite like.  In terms of matte or glossy, I'm tending to favor matte.  Testing has focused on getting some grey streaks or shades in the cloud.  I have tried several whites, mixed stain in clay, mixed stain in glazes, and tried engobes under glaze.  Adding patches of gloop could add texture as well.  I could also try using a black clay body under white glaze.  I could also play around with the colour, for example tinging with pink for sunrise or sunset.

Presentation, part II (more).
In mid-May presentation became more of a focus.  I had thought about perhaps making a wooden frame like a fashion industry clothing rack.  At this point I don't know how many clouds have adequate holes and will be suspended.  Per conversation with Rob, thinking is that clouds should be suspended from the metal rafters in the ceiling.  I thought this might mean suspending each cloud individually from the rafters.  Scott in sculpture raised the notion of a frame from which the clouds could be attached underneath  Perhaps a grill or netting could be suspended or several boards.  A key consideration is the height at which the clouds should be displayed.  Since the tops are interesting they should be fairly low, perhaps at eye level, and one will also want to see the raindrops coming out below. 

Early Clouds
(L-R) Clouds 3, 2 and 1 (all high fire white).
(L-R) Clouds 10, 9 and 8.
Rakued clouds.
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Engobe tests.
Test cloud: (L) stain mixed in White Iris brushed on and fired; and (R) sprayed with a relatively thin coating of White Iris (details).
(L) Stains added to FM Matte White (top row is gray and gray brown...details).  (R) Stains added to White Iris (middle is gray...details).
Test tile with FM Matte White, White Iris and Locke's White (details).  (Top L to R) two batches of FM Matte White and White Iris; (middle L to R) two batches of FM Matte White and White Iris blend; (bottom L to R) two batches of FM Matte White and Locke's White.
Stained clay (details).
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