Sometimes I Do Make Functional Stuff ...

A tall, slab built triangular Ikebana vase. High fire Cone 10 reduction. With green to black flashing slip on greenware. Carbon trap shino on the bisque.

18"H x 7"W x 7"D. I made the piece hefty and heavy to be able to take some large sized branches for an Ikebana arrangement.

I like the sculptural element of the piece. It can stand alone as a sculpture and it also works beautifully as a functional vessel. I think it would look great with some cherry blossoms branches.

Using Paper Clay Doesn't Mean Giving Up What You Know About Clay

One of the things I tell my new paper clay students is that what you learn about this clay just adds to what you already know about ceramics and clay.

It is not an either or situation. Your past experiences with a traditional clay can be transferred to paper clay. You just have to know what situation calls for the best technique.

Paper clay and its techniques can be a new and invaluable new tool in your "ceramic toolbox." Use what you know to achieve the result you are looking for.

As you can see in this picture, my works in progress are covered with plastic. I have several projects going on at the same time and it's easier for me to continue work on the paper clay while it's still in the wet or leather hard stage.

Sometimes the Wheel Would Have Been Faster ...

I hand build all my sculptures, including the ones that may look like they have been done on the wheel. There is just something missing when I do any wheel work.

The preliminary stage of this piece I'm working on could have been done on the wheel. I was thinking about this as I was building up the sides. There is just something that I enjoy when I hand build, something moves within me, something reverent; paying homage to this lowly material that has taken millions of years to form and now I'm touching, feeling it.

Whenever I pinch out a ball of clay, I figured early potters must have done pretty much the same thing. How incredible it is that the basic material and technique have not changed in tens of thousands of years. Our two hands, our ten fingers and a lump of clay becoming fantastic creations, limited only by our imaginations.

Okay ... Let's try it again

If the first time you don't succeed, try again.

I'm sure we all do that in our ceramics, so here I am with this familiar form again. My new bowl is the one on the right side. The left one suffered collateral damage in the kiln when someone else's piece blew up and their shards fell inside my bowl (see earlier post).

This hand-pinched bowl shape has come to mean a lot to me. It is a very simple form, albeit a BIG one, made from one big ball of Black Mountain sculpture clay. It's 9" across at the rim, 11" across at its widest point and 7" high. This is still greenware, drying in my studio. This second bowl is even larger than my first one.

This is the story and inspiration behind this bowl.

In many South East Asian countries (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia) where there is a strong Buddhist influence, saffron-robed Buddhist monks would come out of their monastery everyday at sunrise with their begging bowls to receive alms from the public. In Thailand especially, you see people line up by the road side waiting for the monk's arrival. The monks accept whatever is given in total silence and with gratitude. In Buddhism, giving such alms (consisting of food, fruits, biscuits, or whatever one can offer) brings you good karma. For these monks, this is their only food collection of the day. Whatever is collected is taken back to the monastery and shared with everyone for their only meal of the day before noon.

This pinch bowl is my interpretation of the monk's begging bowl. Theirs is usually made of brass for durability. I want this form to be simple, yet convey a sense of quiet beauty and strength. It is big and has some heft to it. I want this to represent the heavy responsibility these monks have taken upon themselves in the service of others. I've chosen the Black Mountain sculpture clay to complement this feeling. No glaze is needed on the outside.

Add What to Paperclay?

This tea set was completely hand built, including the Japanese style tea pot. Although not a potter, I find these pinch forms a pleasure to make. It would have been definitely faster doing it on the wheel, however I find the wheel imparts a very mechanical, sterile feel to a piece.

The texture on the cups and teapot was obtained by mixing in left over cooked brown rice in the clay and then forming the pinch forms. The rice burns away during the bisque firing leaving the voids.

To make it "functional" (it's usable, but I regard it as a sculptural piece), the inside of the vessels were coated with regular paperclay and then a thin layer of Southern Ice porcelain paperclay was applied over the paperclay. The porcelain paperclay was added to provide a white background for the celadon glaze to "pop". An iron oxide wash was applied to the outside of the set. The piece is high fired to Cone 10.

The presentation tray is actually a scrap piece of iron railroad tie plate that I found near the railroad tracks in my area. I thought it would make a most unusual complement to the piece. Heavy as heck, though!