Corsets

Vessels are so often anthropomorphic. So of course the idea of wrapping a pot in fabric led me to corsets. As it turns out, there is an artist who specializes in making individually “tailored” ceramic corsets: Nicole Moan. You can actually wear them. This is the Alice Corset from her website.

“Nicole first entertained the idea of shifting her abilities from tile to include clothing eight years ago when she wanted to develop a corset that fit her more comfortably than the traditional designs that utilized wires or boning. The ceramic would hug the entire torso, instead of placing uneven pressure along the abdomen and would also allow for elaborate designs sculpted into the piece. A market quickly emerged that pulled clients from the gallery crowd and the fashion industry.” biography

This spawned a lot of ideas for me. I thought about reclaiming vintage lace lingerie through soaking and firing. However, the second-hand lingerie that is readily available is not typically made out of cotton or wool, so I decided to pass.

Another idea I may still pursue is to combine the fuddling cup idea with a textile corset.

 

Mashups: Ceramacramé and Doilie Windows

I made a mash up word: Ceramacramé. I like it!

So far it is beyond my abilities. I had all kinds of plans to make macramé knots in shadow boxes, or to create 3D ceramacramé sculptures. 

I forced paper clay through the extruder and made coils. The trouble with coils is getting them long enough without having them break or distort. Except that the clay was softer, using paper clay in the extruder didn’t seem to be any different from using normal clay.

I was considering making a die with smaller holes. I have some of the material that the die is made from, but I struggled with the macramé process as the following pictures show. So I decided to save that project for later.

I will still explore it later on. (Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn’t mean that others can’t do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training. – Carol Dweck)

For now I built, instead, on the frame idea.

My first attempt:

For my second try, I allowed the frame much more time to stiffen up. I also supported it while it dried.

 

process pictures

Autumn Leaves

A theme that emerged in my inspiration album is autumn leaves. I really love their delicacy and fiery colours.

This is one of my favourite images. I am not a photographer, so the quality of the photo is not important, but the leaf in the sunlight is just glowing. I found a crochet pattern and I am going to try to create some leaves with yarn and then fire them. It would be cool to have a whole installation made from ceramic leaves.

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