From Flat Mesh to 3D - Part 3

This is my new teapot project after completing all the dippings in paper clay slip. The teapot and the base are separate pieces. I decide to build the base for the teapot to sit on and to elevate it off the ground.

It took me 19 dips over a span of 8 days in the Gault 1o paper clay slip and about the same number of dips over 4 days in the Southern Ice Porcelain paper clay slip (thin consistency) to achieve this.

I used the Southern Ice porcelain paper clay slip for the final coats because I really like the brilliant whiteness of the porcelain paper clay when it is bisqued fired to Cone 04. One of the properties of paper clay is that you can add wet paper clay (in the case, slip) to a bone dry piece with no problems at all. The piece is bone dry and ready for bisque fire.

It's a sculptural piece, a take from my earlier work titled "Empty Calories"

From Flat Mesh to 3D - Part 2

This steel mesh form has been dipped 5 times with paper clay slip. The paper clay I am using is the Gault 10 Pclay from Aardvark. It's my standard paper clay for my sculptural works.

The first time the piece is dipped in the paper clay slip only a very light coating stays on the wire. With successive dippings, the layers build up and it depends on how thick you want the final form to be.

Right now, it is still in the formative stage. It will require many more dippings and dryings in between to build up to the final stage.

Summer time (or a very mild winter like what we are experiencing here in So. California right now) is always a great time to do this kind of project as the paper clay slip dries quite fast. On an average day, I can manage 2-3 dippings.