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.

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.

From Flat Mesh to 3D - Part 1

Recently, I've been fascinated by creating complex 3D wire forms from the lowly "chicken-wire" that one can get at a hardware supply store. Quite interesting wire sculptures can be formed from this flexible medium. I've used both hexagonal mesh and a square mesh. The hexagonal mesh lends itself to more organic forms. The square mesh is great for geometric and straight sides pieces.

I enjoy making the wire sculptures as it takes me out of my clay environment and puts me in a different mind set. With simple tools like a wire cutter and pliers, one can fabricate forms limited only by ones imagination. One word of caution though; your fingers can get really torn up by the wire even though I use the pliers as much as I can. Sometimes, it's just a lot faster to bend the wire by hand and if you are not careful ... ouch! When my fingers hurt, I take a break from the wire-forming, give my hands and brain a rest and come back to it later on with a refreshed enthusiasm.

This project is a spherical tea pot with a base. Wrapping a piece of steel mesh into a sphere is quite a challenge and I wanted to see how difficult this would be. The teapot body is made from one sheet of the mesh while the other parts were made from the left overs. I decided to make a base for the teapot to sit on.

"So Happy To See You"

I've been doing a lot of R&D this spring and summer with steel mesh and paperclay slip. Finally, I got to complete a piece.

"So Happy To See You" is a collection of 11 organic-looking pods presented on a custom made wooden stand.

The pods are fabricated out of wire mesh and then dipped in Gault 10 paper clay slip to the thickness I desired. They are bisque fired to Cone 06.

The base is birch plywood laminated with the end grain showing and finished with hand rubbed polyurethane which brings out the natural color of the birch. Small feet are attached to the base to lift the entire installation off the pedestal giving it a "floating" feel.

This piece is meant to be seen from all sides and the view is invited to walk around the work to take in the different perspective.

I hope you get a smile when you see the pods greeting you.

Sculpture within a Sculpture

This piece started out with 21 individual wire mesh pods that I made from a roll of chicken wire (steel mesh hardware cloth) that can be found in any home building supply store.

Each one was dipped in Southern Ice porcelain paper clay slip until the desired thickness was achieved. It took me about 2 weeks to get the thickness I liked.

The initial process was slow as I had to wait till the slip was completely dry before the next dip was made. As the layers build up, I was able to dip about 4-6 times a day depending on the weather conditions.

The final stage of this piece was assembling the individual pods into three groupings. This allows the sculpture to be arranged into different formations, each one giving a different feel to the composition.

As the steel wire is embedded in the clay, the work was fired to Cone 06 (bisque). No glazes were used. A clear coat was sprayed on the piece to seal the surface.