Jen Woodin

Gillian McMillan — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 23:07:54 +0000

Jennifer Woodin is uniquely qualified, not only to teach ceramics, but to encourage her students to understand futuristic technology related to clay. Her first degree, from California State U in Chico, is in engineering and for several years she worked in the field of mechanical and civil engineering. When in Chico, Jen took some pottery classes and eventually decided to change careers and get an MFA in Ceramics at Univ of Oregon, but with a decidedly engineering focus.

http://www.jenniferwoodin.com/bio.html

Jen has had a most interesting career so far, combining both fields in the years since. During a residency at the International Ceramics Research Center in Denmark, she produced Duchamp-inspired ‘feminine urinals’ and even amusing ‘potty bowls’. She designed and made platinum lustre decals and studied 3D printing in clay very early in that technology.

For her talk to TriCity Potters last Wednesday evening Jen sent us photos of 3D-printed objects to illustrate her topic. One is the computer model of the form and the top geologic piece (which is a local mountain) has been printed using two colours of soft clay.

In the cups above, you’ll see that 3D-printed objects can be manipulated to print a hexagonal base which changes to a circle top, and vice versa. In introducing brush strokes of cobalt during the printing she is exploring collaborating with a machine.

Jen has a particular passion for bees. We all know that our food supply would mostly cease to exist if bees weren’t around to distribute pollen. I didn’t know that honey bees are introduced to North America and that bumble bees, Mason bees and solitary wild bees need to be encouraged here.

On a project with Hudson Valley Bee Habitat she coordinated a project which is ‘saving the bees through the arts’. It started with printing flower-like habitat for bees in plastic. But those melted in New York state’s hot summer and it made much more environmental sense to use clay instead.

At another residency, this time at the Netherlands Work Centre where there are vast kilns, her engineering self scanned flowers and used a CNC router to cut plater molds into hexagon tile forms. These were filled with a mixture of dry clay, soil and flower seeds. Fellow artists placed these in fields where the clay will dissolve and the seeds will grow the flowers needed by bees.

Solitary bees make their nursery in cavities in old logs and twigs, but happily adopt cardboard tubes as a home base.

Jen says that each honey bee only makes 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. 3D-printed wee spoons illustrate this very effectively.

Since moving to BC in 2019 Jen has joined the Native Bee Society of BC and has made the preservation of our local bee population a personal priority.

Please forgive my poor distorted photos of projected images.

Back to pottery.. with the beautiful colours to be found on our native bees Jen has a project to make pots shaped like this, bee-shape without limbs, as vases on which she can apply the colours of endangered bumble bees of BC. I have a feeling they may be made using a mould. But, in spite of undertanding and using other technologies I’m told Jen is also a wheel-thrower!

After giving us a fascinating overview of her engineering, ceramics and bee career so far, Jen then had us participate in a small bee enhancement project of our own. She asked us each to make a little pinch pot with D’Arcy Redart earthenware clay (my favourite). Then she had us fill it with a dry mixture of 3 parts soil, 4 parts powdered Redart clay and 1 part local wildflower seed, and then fold and seal it into a little dumpling or wonton. We each took one home and once it’s dry we’re to toss it into a likely wilderness, the clay will split open and, with the soil, it’ll form a fine home for the seeds to grow!

We really enjoyed your evening with us, Jen, and are inspired to look for and nurture our bees. Thank you for the inspiring talk and the delightful group activity at the end. Would someone tell my kids I’d like a 3D-printed bee habitat in my garden this year, please?

Some members brought along their glaze-fired ‘Exquisite Corpse’ group-painted pots from last month to show us how collaboration works!

Enjoy your Spring break folks. My son helped me to plant more low-growing plants to replace more of our chafer-infested lawn, so now I can enjoy more flowers and their bees. My next blog will include photos of some of the splendid pots we saw in Chilliwack last Saturday at Fraser Valley Potters juried show.

3D printed knife handles

Gillian McMillan — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 04:17:23 +0000

I really hate to throw things away. Like lots of other potters I find many of my tools are repurposed wood, plastic and metal found objects. We lurk in hardware stores, 2nd hand stores and thrift shops to find a gizmo that will do a pottery related job better than the commercially made offerings.

Recently I found some excellent knife blades which I’d typically saved – for probably twenty years! The original ‘French Ivory’ (i.e. early plastic) handles had long since cracked or shrunk and I’d thrown them away but I thought that I’d try making clay handles for the comfortable spreading blades. I still have one that I made back then, in earthenware, but it’s a little heavy and I got the length wrong.

BUT, my son Stephen has a new 3D printer, and he’s always interested in ideas for new creations (no, he never liked the idea of working with clay but he loves to fabricate his designs in metal or plastic. I have the very best clay cutter, and in my kitchen, a similar cheese knife).

https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/2014/02/05/cheese-cutter-for-clay-made-by-stephen-mcmillan/

I showed him my little collection of blades and within a week he’d designed and printed some jolly, red, ergonomic handles for them. Since I took the photo above I’ve glued the handles and blades together with Lepage’s 100 percent. They feel so comfortable and I shall be happy to have them join my other kitchen knives for spreading. No, I won’t be using them in my studio but I’m pleased that they will continue to be useful. And I shall not be putting them in the dishwasher.

He’s sent me some photos and a description of the process for those who might enjoy seeing how 3D printing works. Luckily for his students, this is a little part of what he teaches at BCIT.

The first two photos are of the printer. It’s an Afinia H480, printing in ABS plastic. The 1.75mm material is pushed through a 0.4mm hot nozzle, and deposited in layers 0.15mm thick. The total print for four parts took about 5 hours.

Later I used a process called acetone vapour smoothing. I used a low heat in the glass chamber, with a lid, until it was full of the vapour which is heavier than air. I fashioned a little tool to hold all the handles together, then removed the lid, and lowered them in for about 20 seconds. Then I let them air dry for a few hours.

Stephen McMillan

Thanks Steve!

3D printing – Gillian McMillan — Rara Avis

Jen Woodin

3D printed knife handles