Charlotte Walker Art Foundation Degree

 Nerikomi is a ceramic technique from Japan that involves building up layers of coloured clay and cutting across to reveal a pattern inside - it's comparable to the process of making novelty rock candy which you get by the seaside. This article is by a ceramicist who talks us through the stages the process: https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/article/Creating-Nerikomi-Blocks-Decorating-with-Colored-Clay-Patterns I wanted to try Nerikomi to make geometric forms inspired by diatoms, so I began by dying porcelain with different coloured stains. I used 50g of liquid porcelain and 4g of colour since the recommended percentage is 8%, and I had to stir it really well then pour it onto plaster which draws out the moisture so that it becomes more clay-like and manipulatable. I tested a range of colours so that I could later choose my favourites.  The actual process of making a pattern within the clay was really hard and it warped a lot the more I tried to stretch it out into a longer piece

 Last week I went to Cornwall and visited some beaches to gather stuff to use in my project. Since looking at diatoms I've been interested in seeing things under a microscope and I  have an old one at home - it doesn't have a powerful enough lens to see things as small as diatoms but I can still use it to get really close up views of tiny things. On one beach, I noticed that the sand was made up of little fragments of shell so I took some in a bag to look at later under the microscope. On a different beach I collected bits of plastic and strands of nylon rope that were littering the sand. When I got home I set up the microscope and looked at the sand which had a lot of unexpected patterns and colours in it so I tried to photograph the most interesting ones. Later I went on photoshop and arranged the images in a square grid: I think the visual language of the grid is assertive and scientific, it gives the impression we are looking at research specimens from the lab which creates

 I've started gathering imagery for my new project by researching diatoms which are box-like microscopic plant forms found in all types of bodies of water. I first found out about them when I was setting up my own aquarium - a few weeks into cycling the water, a layer of fluffy brown algae began to coat everything in the tank, but I couldn't have guessed how cool diatoms looked under the microscope until I found this article. www.mccrone.com/mm/the-collecting-cleaning-and-mounting-of-diatoms/ It explains that they are such attractive little objects that the Victorians collected them! The article also takes you through the steps of how to separate and clean diatoms but I don't have the facilities for that, I would have really liked to try it otherwise. I like all the different geometric structures, they look really ornamental and intricate and I think it would be interesting to make some scaled-up versions using ceramics where I could create textures and different glazes to