Paper Clay Workshop - McGroarty Arts Center, April 29, 2012

Back by popular demand.

I will be teaching a paper clay workshop for the students at the McGroarty Arts Center on Sunday, April 29, 2012.

My first workshop there was in 2009 and it was very well received. This one day workshop will cover the basics of paper clay for the beginners and some advanced techniques for the more experienced.

The McGroarty Arts Center is located in the north Los Angeles area. It's up on a little hill amid natural stands of oak trees; an oasis for ceramic arts in this area. This idyllic and serene place is a nice respite from the hustle of the city. A great place for inspiration.

Southern Ice Porcelain clay in the USA

I came across the paper clay version of this clay several years ago at the Laguna Clay Company in Los Angeles. Since then, they have stopped carrying this imported clay which hails from Australia.

The USA distributor for this Southern Ice Porcelain clay is Seattle Pottery Supply in Seattle, Washington. Their website is www.SeattlePotterySupply.com.

They don't carry the paper clay version of this clay and have no plans to import it here to the US.

You already know how to make paper clay from a regular clay body from my earlier posts in this blog. S0, you are set!

Lark Books - 500 Raku pieces

I'm most excited to have my Japanese Demon Mask pieces selected to be part of the 500 Raku series from Lark Books.

The book will come out in spring 2011.

Black Mountain Paper Clay - Part 1

Black Mountain clay (both the sculpture and potter's variety) from Aardvark is one of my favorite colored traditional clay. I like the deep brown color I get when it's fired to Cone 10 reduction. Most of the time I do not use any glaze on this clay in my sculpture work.

I decided to make a paper clay version of it from my left over Black Mountain clay in my studio. This article will be in 3 parts.

Part 1 - Making the pulp
Part 2 - Making the Black Mountain clay slurry
Part 3 - Mixing the pulp and the clay slurry


Part 1 - Making the pulp
The sequence of pictures correspond to the notes on the left side.

1. To make the paper pulp, I decided to use left over paper packing instead of a roll of toilet paper, just because I have them around the house and I wanted to experiment using this material. (first picture)

2. The paper packing was torn up into small pieces and put into a 5 gallon painters bucket. (2nd picture)

3. It was soaked overnight. You can also let it soak for a couple of days, if you like, to facilitate the blending of the paper into pulp. (3rd picture)

4. I used an old hand held immersion kitchen blender to cut up and blend the paper packaging into pulp. Adding more water helped in the blending. This takes a bit of time. I had to do this in batches since I can only go so deep with the immersion blender.

(4th picture)

5. Make sure the paper packaging is completely broken up. To test, mix about a tablespoon of pulp with water in a measuring cup. Stir well. You should not see bits of packaging at all. When all you see is a milky emulsion, then your pulp is good. (last picture)