Travel Entry: Rock Garden

This is one of the most unique gardens I have seen. Rock Garden is located in Chandigarh, Punjab and is made of mostly recycled/upcycled material and also uses a lot of concrete that is used in the most creative way.

Here you will see stunning landscapes of mountains and waterfalls. If seen closely they are jute bags that filled with concrete to make the structure and of course a lot of rebar.

Almost every surface is covered with broken tiles, broken sinks, cups, plates, glass. There was this array of abstract concrete forms and I spotted my early teapot forms here. Can you see the resemblance?

Then there was this huge area set up like an outdoor auditorium. the mosaic work done on the walls was one of the best I have seen. This place would be a mosaic artist's paradise. The picture below is of a small section of the 300ft+ wall. Just square measures about 6 feet. So imagin 50 of these in amazing colors.

Other than covering the walls with tile, there are surfaces covered with electric sockets. Like in the wall behind my wife in the picture below. You can see the detail.

The walls below are made with pebbles stacked in different ways making lovely patterns.

And the wall below was one of my favorites. From far it just looked like an orange wall. But in close up you can see it is small terra cotta pots that are stacked to make this wall.

The highlight of the garden are the doll scultures below that are made of broken glass bangles. I had visited this place when I was 8 and I have a feeling my current dancing diva sculptures made their first entrance in my brain at that time looking at these beauties.

Test Test Test

I enjoy glaze testing a lot. I know I am among the few. I didn't start of as a potter who liked to test but ever since I got organized, I started loving it.
I have a system and I keep good records and sometimes drive myself insane while testing. But it is so much fun. This is my process from start to finish...
I use recycled clay for my test tiles. These are extruded through a die I made which have texture and feet to stand. I number each tile with a rotary rubber stamp. It is real quick and I number them sequentially.. I started at 0001 and I am already at 1800+. then they all get bisqued.
When it is time for making a test glaze. I write my recipe in my glaze log book. write the test tile numbers which will get this glaze. If I am layering with another glaze I write that info too. I write the Firing log number in which these test tiles will go. This is done so I can cross reference and see if I did anything different in the firing which I liked or disliked. I also leave a column for comments.
When the tiles come out, I reference them with the stamped tile number and write down with a sharpie the glaze used on it. Add the comment in my glaze log. To make matters worse, I then scan them all in my scanner, so I can look at them on my PC when I need to.
Crazy huh? This is what my scanned test tile looks like




Since I do a lot of testing I also land up with glazes that just aren't right for me. What do I do with all these un needed test tiles, broken pieces of pottery etc. I always thought of making mosaics with them, but who has the time. I figure I just benefit someone else then. I filled up boxes of broken pieces and test tiles in a flat rate priority box and will now ship them. Cost is only for shipping and posting on etsy. Check it out.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14692468

If these can go to a good artist, then a balance will be attained... I will keep testing and someone can make beautiful art from my tiles. :)