Paper Clay Adventures

Right now I feel like I am participating in a mini, self-imposed, paper clay residency.  I got really fascinated by this when Rebecca Hutchinson taught at CSU Summer Arts in July.  Rebecca encouraged me to try this technique of stenciling, painting, and silk screening on a slab of plaster and then pouring a layer of paper clay slip on top.  I was so wrapped up in my installation project that I never got around to trying this out.  So now I am making up and giving it a whirl.

I want to expose a screen next but first I thought I would start off with a hand cut stencil.  I actually forgot about drawing directly on the plaster so I probably would have started with that.  Here I am using a thick porcelain slip made from my throwing leftovers to which I have added toilet paper.  I took a small amount of it and tinted it with turquoise stain.  

I had to let go of my ocd, perfectionistic tendencies with this whole process.  The stencil is not precise and the slip kind of likes to spread under the stencil a bit.

The crazy part is when you pick up the bucket of paper clay slip and pour a thick layer over the whole slab, obscuring the image in the process.  By the way, don't stop pouring and run to get your camera as the leading edge of the slip will start to dry out and will leave a line of demarcation after you pour the rest of the slip.  This line will have a tendency to want to crack later when you are manipulating the slab.  Good to know, just pour it all at once and spread it quickly and thick.

After a few hours, depending on weather (it was a hundred degrees when I did this), a half inch thick pour of slip will have turned into a quarter inch thick sheet that can be peeled pack from the plaster.  I was so excited to see that it actually worked and didn't tear.

I had some extra so I used a commercial stencil on this smaller plaster slab.

This close up shows the paper fibers pretty well.

So, I learned that it is good to plan what you are going to do with your sheet of clay before you make it so you aren't running around scratching your head while your sheet starts to dry.  I am not so sure that utilitarian pieces are the best use of this process but I didn't have a sculptural project in mind.  I also learned that paper clay cuts a whole lot easier with scissors than with a blade or wire.  

I love this "rolled" foot.  I enjoyed experimenting with this because it forced me to let go.  I also like that their where certain things the porcelain slab would and wouldn't do.  Because of this,  the evidence of the process is necessarily revealed such as the cracking of the surface of the clay as it was formed.  Hmm, I'm kind of liking this.  It will be interesting to see where it leads me.  

If you want to know more about working with paper clay, an excellant resource is Rosette Gault's book on the subject.

Paperclay Vessel

All the beautiful flowers blooming and the early morning coolness on my front porch enticed me to stay home and experiment with some paperclay ideas.  In July I was able to work with ceramic installation artist, and professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Rebecca Hutchinson.  She was our last visiting artist in Clay as a Medium for Sculpture at CSU Summer Arts in Monterey, CA.  She taught us an amazing array of techniques for "breaking the rules" when working with clay. She taught us about the different kind of cellulose fibers to use and what kind of stuff to dip into paper clay slip.  She also showed us how to make durable, non-fired pieces and how to incorporate silkscreen and stencil use with colored slips for surface decoration.  It was a ton to cover in just three days.  If you ever get and opportunity to go to one of her workshops I would highly recommend it!

I thought I would start out simple with these little clay medallions I made by dropping dollops of paperclay onto a plaster slab to stiffen up.  Need more plaster slabs!  And minions to make these little cookies while I construct the forms.

The construction process was oh so delightful! I started the base out on an upturned bowl covered with paper.  I left it out in the sun to stiffen up and then took it off the mold, turned it over and started adding my cookie "shingles."  This stuff is amazing.  I love that you can add wet pieces to bone dry work.  It is also really easy to rehydrate areas with a spritz of water as the paper keeps the clay from weakening.

Day two.  You can see where the bottom section has dried and I continued shingling on the fairly dry rim.

I really wanted to continue and make the form even larger if it wasn't for a few crucial factors.  One, I ran out of slip!  Two, I needed to make the base thicker and better able to take the weight of the piece and not be topsy.  Since I started out with all these cookies of pretty uniform thickness there just isn't enough weight at the bottom.  I think the next one will have a thicker pinch or coil base to start working on. The last issue is transportation.  Oh yeah, when one does not have a kiln...  You get the idea.

I love how the interior looks like scales.  I might flip the cookies around on the next piece so the flat, scale-like surface is on the outside.  Now to figure out how I want to finish and fire this piece.  I am thinking of the soda kiln but not sure if it will fit.  I might need to make some smaller ones for that little kiln for sure.

Decorating Plates in Bed

 The girly, flowery experiment.

So, what is a person supposed to do when it is rainy and ugly outside, one has been sick for five days and one is trying to procrastinate heading off to school in this nasty weather?  Why, decorate those plates that I dragged home last night!  And then put them on the bedspread and take pictures.  Then sit down with a bowl of soup and post to my blog and then suddenly remember that I have to run off to school and enter something in the student show before it is too late.  Yikes!

The organic, biomorphic experiment.

Terra Sigillata Love!

Ok, it's official.  I am in love!  Oh, terra sigillata, how I love thee.  Let me count the ways.  This MIGHT even be better than chocolate.  Wait, what am I saying?  Have I lost my mind!  That could be possible.

I owe this new wave of insanity to Jenny Mendes.  She is an absolutely wonderful ceramic artist who decorates her work primarily using terra sig.  She spent a month at Chico State working and sharing her knowledge with the students.  There was a wonderful article about her techniques published in March on Ceramic Arts Daily.  Jenny left this week and gave us her terra sig to play and experiment with. So far I have just put the red terra sig, made from redart, on these new tile tests.  It felt like I was brushing silk onto my tiles!  I've never worked with this before and let me say, I was really missing out.  Thank you, Jenny!  I have been sworn by my instructors to share all experiments and results.  How can I not?  This is soooo much fun!  I want everyone to try it out.  I found myself fondling my tiles last night.  They were so smooth and soft.  Did I tell you? I have gone nutz!  In the picture above you can see the difference in the before and after.  The lighter tile on the bottom left is a funny, pink recycled clay I made last spring.  All the other ones have the terra sig.  Now, if I can just figure out what else I want to do with them.  So many colors of terra sig to choose from.  What will I ever do?

Lights, Camera, Action!

I finally got all of my sculptures installed in the gallery this morning.  That is, Monday morning, now that it is shortly into Tuesday.  I have done many arts and craft fairs with my pottery but this was the first gallery show with sculpture.  I had wonderful help from many people.  Special thanks go out to Allison, Cameron, Jenny and Charlene.  I couldn't have done it without you people.  You are very appreciated!

It was pretty crazy getting all of my pieces out of their boxes and setting them up.  I got all of the wall pieces set up and it looked great.  Then I set everything up on the pedestals and I had WAY too much work for the gallery space.  I maybe could have quit making things a month ago and it would have been fine.  However, I am grateful that I had too much rather than too little.  With lots of help I got the pieces edited down so the space wouldn't look cramped.  This small porcelain piece is about eight inches tall.  I really wanted it in the show along with another black and white piece but they just wouldn't fit and didn't quite work with the other pieces which are quite different.

I like this graphic design and the contrast so much that I am thinking of making a body of work that is all black and white.  That will be quite a departure for me as I am so into color.  This piece originally started out as a test piece.  I  had two forms and some slip left from a throwing session.  I decided to mix some black stain into the slip until it "looked right," although I wasn't sure what right meant.  I didn't know if I would get some shade of gray or what.  This is cone ten and it came out this fabulous rich black with hints of cobalt.  I hope all you clay people who are going to NCECA or, are already there, have a great time.  I hope to make the trip to Florida next year.  I have never been and I want to meet everyone.  Have a great Tuesday.

Porcelain Carves Like Butter!

Good morning everyone.  Spring is almost officially here!  It is so exciting.  I thought I would make this quick post before I head off to my super duper busy, catch up on everything day so I can take some time for myself soon. Phew.  This piece is in the bisque as we speak.  It's a slightly different form from what I have been working on.  I was getting tired of the sharp angles where my round forms would me and I wanted a more gradual transition for easier carving and resist work.  Everyone in the studio, including myself, thought it looked kind of like Mickey Mouse.  What can I say?  I grew up in Southern California and Disneyland was a very regular destination.  Can I help it if those Mickey ears are ingrained in my brain and influence my subconscious choices in form? 

I am really enjoying the way it has turned out, being a small test sculpture as it is.  This is made from cone 10 English Porcelain from Laguna Clay Company.  I love this clay.  It fires very white in reduction, is translucent when thin, has a slight self-glazing characteristic and is relatively easy to throw with.  And did I mention, it carves like butter!  I am in love.  I took my slop clay from my slip bucket and turned it into a thick slip and then added about a teaspoon and a half of commercial black stain,  Then I brushed three coats on the piece and let it set up before carving.  It was interesting to find the right consistency for carving and how effective it was to carve different areas that were drying at different rates.  It turned out being on the dryer side of leather hard made for cleaner carving.  I can't wait to glaze this up and see how it turns out.  Wish me luck.