Knitting is formed in rows of continuously looped stitches.  With laundering and wear, it will generally appear smoother and more evenly worked than when new. In contrast, crochet stitches are twisted and locked in place and relaxation of tension does not occur as it does with knitting.  This variation of tension has been the cause of untold frustration.  I could successfully fire a delicate complex knitting pattern, but not its crochet equivalent.

It took years of testing yarn, patterns and firing schedules before I hit the jackpot and accidently stumbled on the secret.  I had been firing extremely slowly in the early stages, but slowed it down even more the day I fired some damp pots with the knitting and crochet.  Eureka!!!  Not a crochet stitch broken. Here’s what’s happened since….

I started making ceramics in the mid-nineties and soon became seriously hooked.  Four years out of art school nothing has changed.  I’ve knitted since I was a small child. Come to think of it, I don’t even remember learning to knit.  It was just what the women in my family did when they sat down.  Somewhere along the way I found clay and felt like I’d come home. It was just so right for me. But never did I imagine that I’d be able to combine my two passions.  I guess stranger things have happened.  I dreamed I was soaking baby clothes in glaze and hanging them out to dry before firing them. On waking I dismissed the notion as impossible, but it wouldn’t go away. It was only when I did some serious investigation into Shino glazes that I reconsidered the dream and came to believe it possible. Shinos are so stable that they stay where you put them and I found in my recipe collection that I had a few glazes that not only retained the pattern of the knitting, they also retained the detail of the wool fibre as well. Years of technical challenges later I find myself making knitted and crocheted bowl and plate forms made of solid glaze.  See http://www.visualarts.net.au/gallery/helenmartin16 for some examples of more recent work.

And clay?? Any day now ………

shino inspiration - snow platter detail

glazed knitting

memory bowls*

singing bowl*

After making good progress with glazed knitting I thought I’d give crochet a go so that I could make circular pieces.  But I had to learn to crochet, baby steps at first.  With perseverance I have mastered some reasonably complex patterns.  This, however, was the easy bit.  The firing process was fraught with frustration and shattered stitches and it has taken me close on six years to achieve a success rate that I’m happy with.  These images are of some of the survivors of those early firings.

crocheted bowl

cup & saucer

d'oyleys

* Photography by Stuart Hay, ANU Photography