Poor Gnome – left with just a stump!
This little gnome is very sad because he slid off his stand in the kiln and his …ahem….widdle pee-pee broke off leaving him an even smaller stump! And he skinned his knee too. The knee I can bandage but the other ????? I thought of dipping the end in hot wax to make him a prosthesis??? But every time I light the candle he takes off for the forest.
He is mortified that I posted his mishap on the internet and tried to hide out in the forest but I found him anyway with the help of Bowie’s superior gnome sniffing talents. I got to take some pictures to show you how maimed the poor little guy has become.
His penis broke off and his knee is skinned. What was he doing last night?
Hiding his shame in the Black-eyed Susans
Gnome eyes full of sadness.
Hiding his face in shame.
Hiding in a tree. But I found him!
As long as he lays like this no one will know!
Waiting for butterflies.
White Kitty in a flower
I made this for Jocie twice! It got bits of clay stuck to the first one when something exploded in the kiln while firing.
sculpture by Kathy O'Connell
White Stoneware sculpture by Kathy O'Connell
Bed Time Sculpture
Bedtime Sculpture
http://www.shoogleit.com/embed/1231-0
If you click on the above link you can spin her around and see all sides!
Here she is, my Bedtime sculpture. I decided to make it shiny with clear glaze and I’m very happy I did. Now she sparkles like me! She is sculpted out of stoneware white clay.
Porcelain Information
I have bought 50 pounds of porcelain and started to make a ball-jointed doll.Wish me luck because i have no idea what I’m doing. I got Laguna clay. Its called Dave’s Porcelain (WC-384) and #570 are outstanding Cone 10 throwing bodies and are also excellent for slab projects when a hard clay is desired.
True porcelain contains a mixture of kaolin (pure white clay), silica, and feldspar. Porcelain is worked as a clay, but when fired it becomes similar to glass. Other unique qualities of porcelain
include translucency and whiteness. Porcelain is a clay body that draws in many a potter because of its bright white color, translucency, and the way glazes look oh so fabulous on it. But it’s a fussy little clay body susceptible to collapsing during the forming process and cracking during the firing. Plus it has a memory like an elephant – jiggle it the wrong way during the forming process and there’s a good chance it will remember your mistake during the firing resulting in a warped pot.
Porcelain (called “jiki” in Japanese) was introduced to Japan in the 17th century by Korean potters, and was influenced greatly by Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) orcelain, an ingenious pottery product first developed during the Shang Dynasty in 1600 BCE, represents both beauty and grace in Chinese pottery. Because of its unique material properties, porcelain has considerable strength, hardness, whiteness, translucence and insulation. By 600 AD, porcelain-making techniques had been perfected, and Chinese porcelain began spreading outside China. These exported Chinese porcelains were held in such great esteem in Europe that in the English language china became a commonly–used synonym for the Franco-Italian term porcelain.
In 1749, Thomas Frye took out a patent on a porcelain containing bone ash. This was the first bone china,
Some porcelain bodies tend to be deflocculated, which causes the body to have working and drying problems. Deflocculated clay are thixotropic, and become softer when moved. This means a piece that feels dry enough to trim may become much softer as it is worked upon. Deflocculated bodies have trouble drying, as the parallel clay particles at the edges pack together as the water evaporates, closing the path for interior water to exit. This can cause uneven shrinkage that results in warping and cracking.
The density of the clay may cause edges and extensions to dry before the rest of the work, with the potential for cracking. Careful drying can address this.
In firing, true porcelain is fluxed enough to vitrify and become translucent when thin. This may cause warping and cracking in firing. Commercial producers may address this difficulty by bisquing porcelain bodies to maturity in supports or bedded in alumina oxide, then using special glaze gums and binders to apply the glaze to the vitrified wares, and firing lower for the glaze firing.
Clays used for porcelain are generally of lower plasticity and are shorter than many other pottery clays. They wet very quickly, meaning that small changes in the content of water can produce large changes in workability. Thus, the range of water content within which these clays can be worked is very narrow and the loss or gain of water during storage and throwing or forming must be carefully controlled to keep the clay from becoming too wet or too dry to manipulate.
Unlike their lower-fired counterparts, porcelain wares do not need glazing to render them impermeable to liquids and for the most part are glazed for decorative purposes and to make them resistant to dirt and staining.
Decoration: Porcelain wares may be decorated under the glaze using pigments that include cobalt and copper or over the glaze using coloured enamels. Like many earlier wares, modern porcelains are often bisque-fired at around 1,000 degrees Celsius, coated with glaze and then sent for a second glaze-firing at a temperature of about 1,300 degrees Celsius or greater. Another early method is once-fired where the glaze is applied to the unfired body and the two fired together in a single operation.
Poor Dead Penny
My daughter’s missing cat was found when the snow melted. It was perfectly preserved and my daughter was devastated. So I made her a sculpture of her poor dead kitty.
Zombie girl
I’m working on this piece as a present . Maybe for you! It fell over twice and had to have leg surgery but it finally is safe and secure in the kiln. Ha! Anything can happen in the kiln! Will she explode or fall over in the extreme heat? Stay tuned to find out.
Laran Katdazzled
Working with Porcelain Clay
I bought a bag of porcelain clay from Dick Blick. The white stoneware I’ve been using is just too rough for my tiny work. They say porcelain is very hard to work with, but I love a challenge!
First a little research:
Tips: from Gwendolyn Yoppolo
- Adding softer clay onto a form that is too dry results in cracking.
- Altering and/or bending a form that’s too dry or leather hard causes warpage and cracking.
- In general, join only pieces of similar dryness and reinforce all joints with extra clay and compress them together with a rib.
- Slow and even drying is critical.
- Periods of rest, where the pieces are wrapped in an airtight chamber to slow drying and redistribute moisture, do help. The clay has a chance to get used to its new form at each phase, without having one part dry too quickly for the rest of the piece.
- Another valuable technique is to restrict movement of the piece during the drying phase.
Phase: wet clay -forming (additive)
Processes Supported:
- throwing on the wheel
- hand building
- molding elements
Things to Remember:
- pay attention to the space inside of your vessel - you are shaping this receptive space first, and will make the walls around it match
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Phase: soft cheese altering and building (additive)
Processes Supported:
- changing the form’s shape
- adding onto the form
- other additions (handles, knobs)
- texturing surface
Things to Remember:
- slip and score all joinings
- compress joints with a metal rib or wooden tool
- perform any bending of the walls or altering of curves
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Phase: hard cheese trimming and refining (subtractive)
Processes Supported:
- trimming
- rasping away areas of form
- cutting away clay
- carving patterns
Things to Remember:
- basic form should not be altered
- perform subtractive processes to lighten form or add aesthetic elements
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Phase: hard cheese trimming and refining (subtractive)
Processes Supported:
- trimming
- rasping away areas of form
- cutting away clay
- carving patterns
Things to Remember:
- basic form should not be altered
- perform subtractive processes to lighten form or add aesthetic elements
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Phase: stale cheese dry shaping (subtractive)
Processes Supported:
- clean surface up
- lighten form further
- soften edges
- trimming or scraping with rib
- just before the piece is bone dry, it responds very well to having its surface scraped or trimmed
- if the work has become bone dry, you can sponge it down to do some of these processes
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Phase: bone dry erosive action (subtractive)
Processes Supported:
- sponging
- some light carving
Things to Remember:
- sponging the form down reduces sanding, erases unwanted marks, and softens edges
- don’t add too much water!
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Artists who sculpt in Porcelain: Fawn Zeller, Marlaine Verhelst, Susan Scogin, and Loretta Norcross typically choose to sculpt original works in raw porcelain clay without the use of molds. Others such as Jill Nemirow-Nelson may prefer to start sculpting from simple castings - simple hollow skeletons they can then manipulate. For the resultant work to be called "original", these castings must be made from molds drawn from this same artist’s original sculpt! Molds If molds are used at all, these castings typically have minimal detail so most of the sculpting is done via direct clay manipulation. The cast clay is promptly removed from the mold before it is even leather-hard. In this very wet and extremely fragile state, they start to sculpt with complete sculpting freedom yet do not have to worry about hollowing out later! If Fawn worked from molds at all in creating any of her original sculpts, she would remove the clay almost before the greenware stage so she could immediately start re-shaping them. Many times, Fawn simply started by picking off clay from a blob of thickened slip and shaped it into her basic forms. She always tried to hollow her sculpts before firing. Make it hallow Most clay must be hollow before it is fired so that all the clay is a consistent thickness in hopes that it will all vitrify at the same rate without any distortion. Fawn Zeller hollowed her pieces in the traditional manner by cutting them in half, removed the excess clay in the center, then carefully rejoined the backs to the fronts. Marlaine Verhelst starts her sculpts by laying her clay down over a Styrofoam form which when removed leaves a hollow consistently thick sculpt ready to fire. As noted above, others start off with a set of simple hollow castings. But Susan Scogin works so small (at 1:12 scale) that she claims she often doesn't need to hollow her work at all before firing! Venting All hollow items must be vented so all air can escape or the porcelain might explode in the kiln as any trapped air violently escapes! Keep it Moist! Early NIADA artist, Fawn Zeller, started sculpting in the customary manner by manipulating porcelain clay in a moist, leather hard stage - always keeping it moist throughout the sculpting process. While working in this traditional manner, she was frustrated because her clay sculpt would change from day to day due to an uneven drying even though it was being kept in a damp enclosure. Daily, she needed to re-wet it, manipulate it; or add wet slip to smooth out distortions. Fawn said, "It would take at least three weeks of manipulation until the clay itself finally seemed to give up and the sculptor, at last, was in charge". Safety note: Inhaled porcelain dust can be fatal over time. Protect your lungs when cleaning, sanding or direct sculpting porcelain! Tiny detail in her small work was often applied with wet slip, to which white vinegar had been added to thicken it to a buildup consistency. Note: Fawn Zeller used very little vinegar to thicken slip that she was applying to her sculpt in liquid form. Other artists needing larger pieces of clay while working in more traditional additive processes might pour a bit of slip onto a plate of hard, dry plaster to draw excess water out. "Pate sur Pate" Fawn Zeller discovered a technique called "Pate sur Pate" which changed the way she sculpted in porcelain forever. Tiny detail in her small work was often applied with wet slip, to which white vinegar had been added to thicken it to a buildup consistency. Note: Fawn Zeller used very little vinegar to thicken slip that she was applying to her sculpt in liquid form. Other artists needing larger pieces of clay while working in more traditional additive processes might pour a bit of slip onto a plate of hard, dry plaster to draw excess water out. Fawn started sculpting in the customary manner by manipulating porcelain clay in a moist, leather hard stage - always keeping it moist throughout the sculpting process but was frustrated by the difficulties of keeping her small sculpts consistently wet. After many years of work, she discovered a better way. Fawn’s Discovery In 1963, Fawn discovered a totally new approach to sculpting with porcelain clay. She was working on a project so very small that she needed to work under a magnifying glass. The details were so small that a brush buildup seemed more effective, instead using a modeling tool. She found that she couldn't keep this little head moist enough. Yet she noticed she could easily brush thinned slip onto the dry clay. The drier the tiny head became, the better liquid slip adhered. This fresh clay could then be manipulated, modeled and carved into fine details and smoothed with a brush."It was an exciting discovery. This extreme and opposite approach was a very different technique. The completely dry sculpture can still be changed and even have added details. When my first attempt with this unusual method was high fired to cone 6, and the result was beautifully fused, satin finish porcelain, I knew I had found a better way. The revelation proved to be the most thrilling discovery of my doll-making career!" quote from the book "Fawn Zeller's Porcelain Dollmaking Techniques" by Sybill McFadden "The firm, partially fired clay almost grabbed at the unfired, very thinned porcelain slip being added for detail work. The model could still be carved away and added onto, after wetting, with far better results than I had ever found possible when working with leather hard clay." "The application of thinned slip onto the partially fired head is easily blended in place with a dampened brush or a toothpick with cotton twisted on one end, dipped in water and the excess pressed out. It was found that a few drops of white vinegar added to the brushing water helps keep the surface from crusting. The delicate contours achieved, after the first firing, were done with a fine rasp-filing tool. The final clean up of the larger areas was made smooth with a No. 100 grit rubber scrubber. After all traces of clay dust was brushed away, any remaining particles could be picked up with a slightly dampened sponge or chamois skin." quote from the book "Fawn Zeller's Porcelain Dollmaking Techniques" by Sybill McFadden Fawn's use of slip for sculpting is very similar to an expert's use of decorative "slip trailing" where liquid slip is drawn onto raw clay from a squeeze bottle. The results can be stunning especially when the newly laid down slip is further shaped into more delicate designs by expert hands. After discovering this new method, sculpting was an exciting adventure for Fawn. She proudly stated, "All the portrait museum dolls I did after 1963 [each an original] were created using this method". Independent Discovery! Fawn later found that her new technique, the "buildup of wet slip on dry biscuit for carving detail", was NOT a new technique. After some research at the library, Fawn realized that she had independently discovered a technique which she thought was developed about 100 years before her time [actually the process is even older!] She explains, "Somehow in developing my doll making I, too, came across this revolutionary process, without ever having heard or read of the technique."Surely an artist can start with raw clay and hollow their sculpts by hand as Fawn did, but they can achieve a similar result that is completely ORIGINAL by starting from casts made from molds with minimal detail - just basic shapes. This will provide a quick hollow starting point. Essentially it would be a hollow skeleton from which to build upon. The casts could be removed from the molds before the leather hard stage to allow some quick reshaping but most of the sculpting would actually only occur after it was already soft-fired. I highly recommend the book "Fawn Zeller's Porcelain Dollmaking Techniques" by Sybill McFadden to anyone who wants to learn more about Fawn Zeller's work. Porcelain Shrinks Raw porcelain shrinks by at least 10% as it vitrifies in the high fire. A clay manufacturer should be able to give you an approximate rate of shrinkage. It is very important for an original doll sculptor to know the shrinkage rate of their clay, especially if they are working in a specific scale like 1:12 (doll house size). If your clay will shrink 10% then you must do the math so you can sculpt at an appropriate larger size to insure your sculpt will shrink into the exact size you need. The shrinkage rate may be noted somewhere on the product's packaging or on the manufacturer's web site. If not, then it might be wise to set up a test. A test strip can be built up of clay insuring the strip is consistently thick and consistently wide then cut to exactly 10". After firing, it is easy to calculate the rate of shrinkage by comparing the new size to the original. Once you find out the shrinkage rate then you can scale a set of reference photos or draw a set of figures in this larger size as a guide to your sculpting. Thickening Clay The traditional way to thicken clay is to lay it on a block of plaster (a "plaster bat") to let the plaster draw some of the moisture away. A flat area of any plaster mold will do but those who need thicken slip often, will take the time to make a special portable plaster bat specifically for this use, rather than risk dropping their valuable plaster molds. NEVER pour any contaminated water down your drains! Both plaster =& clay can clog your drains. Here are some things you never knew that you could do with Porcelain in Miniature. Direct sculpting can be started before the greenware is even leather hard! While doll artists are taught to be EXTRA careful when handling greenware for larger dolls, miniature doll artists have found that they can really abuse their greenware and get a startlingly good finished product! To keep greenware from splitting and cracking in the kiln, you often have to prop larger pieces and handle the wet greenware VERY carefully ... this isn't a problem with miniatures (those dolls 7" and under). They regularly take miniature hands, cut the fingers apart and reposition to articulate the hands before the greenware is even leather hard!!! With a sharp scalpel (be careful), cut apart the fingers ... don't try to cut all at once, but gently score through. Then, using a sable brush dipped in distilled water, you can refine the cut edges and even move the digits to make a pointed finger, curled hand, fist, or anything that your heart desires. Set aside the greenware, let dry as usual, clean and fire to bisque! The same method can also be used to reposition heads!!! Experiment!!! Fawn Zeller explained why she chose to sculpt directly in porcelain clay: "the end result remained my original sculpture and fired more sharply, defined in every detail." Porcelain Slip
With many personal trials and tests, it was discovered that dried porcelain slip makes useful modeling clay. The white scrap trimmings from pourings, when rolled out to a powder, should have just enough drops of glycerin added to make it the right consistency. This plastic mixture is good for fancy trim, preferably already colored; it can be stored in a dry glass container. It will never dry out. It is always ready for rolling to cut ribbons, floral or fruit decorations, and to be squeezed through a disk extrusion tool.
It may be placed on unfired greenware with slip, and onto partially fired bisque with thinned slip and a drop of matte glaze underneath. The glycerin clay items should be added at the very last so as not to accidentally disturb the [decorative]design which does not harden or set up because of its oil content. The clay will, however, hold its shape equally, with whatever else is applied in various buildups on the porcelain piece.
It has one disadvantage, however, a disagreeable odor and smoke when being fired in the kiln. Therefore, it needs plenty of ventilation. The end result has always been worth this brief unpleasant period.
Lace draping
Lace draping is where thin 100% cotton lace is soaked in slip and after all excess slip has dripped away; it is then applied onto a raw clay item. The lace is carefully pushed and pulled into place to achieve a natural look. The cotton will burn off in the kiln leaving only a fragile 3D impression of porcelain lace.
An example of lace draping: an artist might drape this porcelain laden lace around the brim of a sculpted bonnet or against a sculpted bodice.
Making a head and shoulders for doll Porcelain for handsculpting has been used for centuries by ceramists in sculpting their "objets d'arts". I use the German brand "Hutschenreuter" or the French brand "Limoges" and fire it only once on 1220 or 1240 degrees Celsius. I paint the porcelain with watercolour and I cover this with a varnish as a protection. To start with the head, I take a styrofoam egg and put a pin in the pointed side (so I can recognize it once it has been covered). I grease the egg with salad oil and cover it with two flat slices of porcelain (ill. 1). Then I start modelling the chin - the side of the pin (that can be removed now). You can model the face including the ears as you are used to, keeping the head in your hands. If you are working very slow or if you do have dry and warm hands I would advice to put a piece of plastic foil (plastic wrap) between your hands and the head. If you don't the back of the head will dry, shrink and crack. If you keep the head wet, then you can work on it for about two weeks. When you have finished sculpting the head, you let it dry for one to three hours. It has to reach a certain stage between wet and dry. Then you will be able to open it to remove the egg. The egg cannot be left inside because the porcelain will shrink while drying (See below for further instructions). To give the head a neck and shoulderplate I have developed a special stand (ill. 2). I can put plastic tubes of different lengths on top so that I can quickly adjust this stand to fit the size of the head and the length of the neck (ill. 3). Cover the stand with plastic foil (plastic wrap) and prepare the shoulderplate (ill. 2). Now we can operate on the head to remove the egg, remove excess material and prepare the neck. First we will make a hole for the neck by removing a round piece of material with a little knife. Then remove the top of the head - the brain pan- as you do with a boiled egg. Don't forget to place a reference mark on each piece so you will know how to put it back together (ill. 4). You can push out the egg now with your thumb (ill. 5) and remove some of the material on the thickest parts of the head, for instance the forhead and the chin. You can use the tool showed on ill. 5. To replace the top of the head you have to make scratches -using a little knife- in the two parts that have to be joined. After scratching you will have to wet these parts with a wet brush and without removing the scratches. Now press the top of the head on the right place aligning the two pieces where you have put the reference marks before. Smooth away the seam. Put the head on the stand in the position that you prefer (ill. 2). Model the neck out of a slice of porcelain and smooth away the seams. Now cover the head with plastic without closing it entirely. Leave it this way for a few hours so the moisture can spread evenly. If the entire piece feels the same (as the head before operating) you can remove it from the stand and work on the inside of the head if necessary. Let it dry slowly before firing. Support during firing tips: by Lauren I use either alumina hydrate or silica sand sifted onto the shelf first to allow the pieces to slide as they shrink and also to protect the shelf. Then I use a product called “prop” which comes in either a blanket or as something similar to pieces of fluffy wool to support pieces that might slump or bend. It is a little tricky but not that hard. Always allow some leeway for the shrinkage of the porcelain when you prop ie use fluffy pieces that can compress easily. I lay the carousel figures on their sides and put a little bit of the loose prop under the legs that are on the top side or in any other place that needs some support. You can roll pieces of the blanket prop up and put in large openings to help hold them up. I have not used it for bowls etc. yet. All of these products can be reused over and over. Sift the sand or alumina hydrate back into a container. Don’t use both together though. I recall having to fire the A.H. before using it the first time but I have been able to use it over and over. Look in doll making supplies for the prop.
Armatures for sculptures Information
If you’ve been following my adventures in sculpting, you would know I’ve been struggling with what to use in internal support of my figures. I’ve used wire, which seemed to work. I’ve used wood which may or may not have caused cracks. Maybe the cracks would have appeared anyway? So as is my usual way of doing things; I am doing more research now , after I’ve experimented.
Armatures:
- Stainless steel- will withstand 2150 degrees F , cone 5. It can stay in the piece but must be wrapped with paper so the clay can shrink against it. The paper burns away and gives shrinkage room.
- Nylon mesh or nylon wire- gives support during construction but burns out during firing.
- Wood- must be wrapped and removed before clay dries
- Pipes- must be wrapped and removed before clay dries
- Glass Bottles- must be wrapped and removed before clay dries
Source:Working with clay
By Susan Peterson, Jan Peterson
Sculpting Eyes
I thought I had a good way to make eyes for my little sculptures, until yesterday.
- I would hallow the head out once it was hard enough to do so without collapsing.
- Then I would smoosh in eye bals from the back into the eye holes.
- I would lay down skinny, tiny srips of clay above and below the eyes to make the lids
- Let it stiffen up a bit and then carve in the iris and pupil.
- WaLa! A nice eye.
From Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis
Watch this guy do it. I bought his book. He is REALLY good. But he works much bigger than I do. Maybe I should work bigger? It sure would be easier.
Here’s some other eyes instructions by Gene Van Horne
:
Sculpting eyes is actually quite easy…
1. Create an eye socket using a ball burnisher type tool. Not too deep, not too shallow, just a nice little dent.
2. Where you want the corners of your eyes use a pin and poke in each corner straight in to the head. This causes the putty in the socket to bulge up some and creates your eyeball.
3. Use a sharp small tool, I use a .032 piece of brass wire that has been pounded out and sharpened and buffed smooth. See http://www.perfect-t…m/newpage11.htm and click on the SUPERFINE PRO METAL TIP TOOLS picutre. Look at SFP-4J Straight Spatula (fourth tool down from the top) and that’s basically what I use for creating the eyelids. Take the very tip of the tool and very carefully make four marks, each starting from the holes you just poked, angling up for the upper lid and angling down for the lower lid. Pull out a tiny bit of putty from each mark you make to create your eyelids. Like this… <> I usually start on the inside upper corner and work around clockwise. Don’t push in hard or you’ll sink in the eyeball. It’s all about pulling OUT the eyelids. Look at one of Werner Klocke’s figures and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
4. Finish off by pressing up and in lightly with either a clay shaper or a spoon type tool, a little above the eye to create the browline. If you want an eyebrow push in and down very lightly with the same tool, a hair above the browline to define the brow. You don’t need to deliniate hairs on the eyebrows unless they are bushy. If they are really bushy you’ll have to add putty and then texture them.
Eyes almost never stare straight ahead, but commonly look a bit to left or right. I find the informality of a slight sideways glance simplifies the overall problem and makes the eyes more attractive.
A video of making eyes by Joanna Mozdzen www.joannamozdzen.com
Nakkid Sculptures
I must admit , I really hate covering up those beautiful naked bodies. I first sculpt all my people naked. Yes, its true , I just love the human body. I think it is very beautiful. But the other reason is because it helps with the form, winkles and folds of the clothing put on top of it. The clothes look best when the shape of the body show through. Just look at what you are wearing now(assuming you are wearing any) and notice how the clothing is shaped by your body underneath.
This little Gnome is sleeping, so he is only wearing his pointed boots and hat. He doesn’t like to feel restricted when he’s asleep.
Water Based Clay drying Tips – No cracks or explosions!
Cracking in water based clay can be caused by any one of a number of issues, but usually involves one or more of these conditions:
* If there is a rigid armature inside that doesn’t collapse while the piece is drying, then the clay will crack around the armature. Solution is to not have an armature inside, or use crumpled newspaper that will “give”
* If the piece dries too fast or is left to dry in the open air it will crack. The outer layers dry faster than the inner layers and as clay shrinks as it dries, the outer layers will crack. Solution is to dry the piece slowly, covered in plastic.
* If the clay is unsupported in certain areas, the weight will cause the piece to crack under the stress. Solution is to prop any portion up that tends to sag with pieces of wood or other solid structure until that portion has dried or is very firm and will support itself.
* If the piece is not totally bone dry when it is fired, the escaping steam will crack the clay. Solution is to make sure the clay is dry. Put it in a roasting turkey bag in the oven and turn it on about 180 degrees overnight, then turn off the oven. If you see steam on the inside of the bag, the piece is not dry enough to fire. A piece that merely cracks or breaks can be easily repaired. A piece that explodes into dust cannot. Poke a dozen holes in the bagand then bake in your oven to 180 degrees all day long. Turn it off at night time and leave it sit. Keep doing this until the morning you check it, it doesn’t have any water vapor on the inside of the bag. Then is when it’s completely dry.
* If you put too dry clay on top of leather dry clay while modeling, the new clay will not adhere to the existing clay and will tend to separate and crack. Solution is to always keep the piece you are working on nice and moist and to only add really wet clay while modeling so it will “glue” itself to the existing clay and form a bond.
* If you build a piece thick and when quickly building up the initial layers get air trapped inside the clay, the piece will burst when firing. Solution is to form your initial mass, then while the clay is still quite soft, paddle the clay to smash out all the air bubbles, then build more layers with wet clay. Also, if firing thick, the clay needs to be a clay that contains grog and the firing must commence slowly over a period of at least a day. If the temp is brought up too fast, the clay can burst. Otherwise, the piece must be cut and hollowed out to about 1/2 inch even thickness and holes pierced on the inside of the clay as is instructed in a typical ceramic clay class. When putting the halves back together, the clay must be super wet and the exposed edges scored, or the clay will crack along the seam due to improper adhesion issues mentioned in the previous bullet.
* EM217 is a modeling clay only and really should never be left to dry past leather hard since it should not be fired. It is a very fine clay with no grog and will almost certainly crack if it is left to dry out. It can be molded while still wet.
Ry sitting around the house
I’m thinking I would like to do some street art by making my little people venture out into the world and be photographed and perhaps left in places to be found by others? Could be fun. We’ll see. We’ll see.
Ry riding on the back of the Titian truck.That's not a safe place to sit.
Ry sitting on the window sill.
Ry likes the Barbie House.
Ry sitting on a rock.
Ry's head blew off in a barbecue accident.
Ry is waiting for the oil man to come. He wants to give him a piece of his mind.
Firing Ry
I sculpted Ry and used wire under the clay as a sort of skeleton to provide support. I saw it somewhere on the internet. But I think they just did for sculpture that they never fired. They must have just used it for making a mold.
Anyway, I spent many hours getting his face just right. Then I found somewhere else on the internet that you can’t fire clay with wire in it because it will expand and explode. Also you have to hollow out stuff so it doesn’t explode. His head was solid.
His head blew up within the first few minutes. I used the deck fireplace dish thing and filled it with charcoal, put lighter fluid on the briquettes and fired it up. I made a ring of them around the Ry sculpture and propped his feet up on a stone with his back flat.
As I mentioned earlier, there was a loud POP! and his head blew up right out his eyes. I guess that was the weakest point. It was mostly just the top of his head that blew off. I think the bottom , from the eyes down is okay. I just let the charcoal fire burn until it burned itself out to ashes. About four hours and now he is just relaxing in there, among the ashes cooling off. There are two tiny cracks at his knees but other than that he looks fine. I think it would have worked if I had hollowed out his head?
I used white stoneware clay.
Soon as he cools off I’ll take a picture of the finished Sculpture.
The gift of the raspberry
I went to Boston on a rainy day and walked to the Holocaust Memorial.
There I read a quote that really moved me to create. It is:
“Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the concentration camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you give it to your friend.” – Gerda Weissmann Klein
The sculpture is made from white clay and then bisque fired. I painted it with under glade and the it was fired again.
I constructed the barbed wire from wire. I stabbed my hands with the sharp barbs repeatedly while making it and got blood all over the place, but it seemed like nothing compared to the real suffering that went on during the war. I lived in a catholic orphanage , that was nothing compared to Gerda’s horrible journey. And yet , I feel I have, in a very, very small way ,shared a few of the same emotions that she did.
Here is a video about Gerda’s story.
So sad.
This is me at the Memorial. In each tall cube of glass, the numbers of inmates of the concentration camps are inscribed in the glass. Maybe that’s why I hate numbers so much.
Getting closer
Ry vs. clay head
Now, I feel better. I’m getting closer to what I want. I suppose if I worked bigger it wouldn’t look as grainy but for now I like working little. Doll size. Now I won’t look at it till tomorrow so I have fresh eyes to see what I need to do to refine it just a bit more. Oh how I wish life had an undo button. It’s just like the old days when just the tiniest slip of the hand or mistake from my faulty brain and WHAM! hours of work down the toilet. But it does add an element of danger. Like walking on the edge of a razor sharp rock high in the mountains where one slip would end my life with no undo button. I did that once, up in Maine. I took an ecology college course, left my four kids with Danny (my husband) and took off for an intense 2 week course. One week in the mountains (where I walked on that razor edge rock risking my life) and then one week at the ocean dragging up saline which I then drew and recorded and wrote poems about. I sure have a wonderful husband, don’t I? He has always supported me in any crazy thing I want to do. How did I get so lucky?
Frustration
This face should not be so hard.
I’m trying to sculpt Ry, and I am frustrated. I just can’t seem to get him to look how I want him to. GRRRRRR! I’ve reworked it several times. Even started over a little bigger. That one is worse. So I’m going to let it set, till the frustration mellows into a new idea of how to push this mud around to look like an eight year old boy.
I can do this, I know I can, I know I can. Even if I have to redo it 5000 times till I get it. I think one of the things that really drives me crazy is the eye thing. When I paint I always paint the eyes first to they can keep me company. I HATE being alone. Maybe that’s what is wrong. Maybe I should go down to St. Peters Village and sit on the deck and sculpt. It is a beautiful day. I wonder if it is too windy. My pottery teacher, Sandy Malamed, said that the wind dries the clay faster than heat.
That’s the fun and frustration of learning something new. I don’t know what works or doesn’t work. I know what I want, what’s in my minds eye, I just don’t know how to get my hands and materials to come together to create that image? I do love a challenge.
I got an angel on my shoulder
A picture of the kids with their great grandfather’s angel sculpture.
Ry with his great granddad.
Jocie with her great granddad.
Japan Tribute- A wave washed His Orderly life into Chaos
I am so saddened by Japan’s diaster that I had to make a sculpture about it. This is a hanging piece (it doesn’t have the chains yet to hang it.) The little monk is the Buddist monk in Japan who I learned and received my Reiki Level 2 certification. I love Japan and its people. I don’t understand how they are so neat and orderly, as I am not. But my heart goes out to them.
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