Category Archives: Art

ideation, innovation and process

Weaving Clay Belts

Posted on by under Art, Blog, Growth Mindset, process

I started trying to weave clay today. It is so different from weaving leather because of the plasticity of the clay. In other words, it keeps mushing.

I was using using low fire clay without any fibre added. I tried working very quickly and loosely with thin strips and handled them as little as possible.

I also tried using strands of different thicknesses. So far I like this the best, but the small strands crumbled. I would like to try it with paper clay and see if it cracks less. Also it would look cool with a slip-soaked knitted strand in the middle.

 

 

Autumn Leaves

Posted on by under Blog, Ideation, Inspiration

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.

Making Paper Clay

Posted on by under Art, Blog, process

From past experience with trying to incorporate slip-soaked yarn with other clay slabs, I discovered that they drive differently, which leads to cracking. So, I tried making my slabs from paper clay.

The texture of clay combined with soggy toilet paper pulp is very light and fluffy. It is easier to manipulate because the cellulose fibres give it more strength and flexibility. It also dries more slowly because the fibres hold on to moisture, so it is less prone to cracking. It is fun to work with, but it is less useful for functional pieces because it is more porous and may leak. For sculptural pieces it is great.

Here I am making paper clay. I could just let it dry after mixing the toilet paper and slip, but you can see in the following gallery I get tired of waiting and wedge it into a different clay body.

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