Paper Clay Slip and New Work
I’m happy to report that my studio time is on the upswing- time and productivity wise. I’m not quite at my 20 hour per week goal yet, but close. Last week, I spent 18.5 hours in the studio either making work, trimming, loading the kiln, cleaning and otherwise organizing my space. I should probably start keeping track of the business end of things such as answering emails, blogging, accounting etc. I might be surprised to learn that I work closer to an average 40 hour work week.
Ewww moldy paper clay slip
I was eying a hand built pint sized printed tumbler/cup that I made last summer – unfortunately, it didn’t survive the neglect and heat of the summer, but I kept it because I thought the shape and size would make a nice large tall mug. For hand building, I use a white cone 6 stoneware clay called “Ash” that I buy from Mile Hi Ceramics. The clay is not as creamy and white as the porcelain clay that I prefer throwing with, but it holds up better for hand building.
To seal the joints, I use clay super glue – a paper clay slip that I make out of scraps of the same clay body, toilet paper, a little water blended to a smooth consistency. Since I haven’t made a lot of work in the last few months, I was greeted by a jar of moldy and smelly paper clay slip yesterday. Yummy. I was taught that mold is not a bad thing when it comes to clay – and after I stirred it up a bit, my nose became accustomed to the, ahem, fragrant clay. Reminds me of a favorite past time of my hus…oh never mind – don’t want to embarrass anyone.
Hand built imprinted pint sized mugs
I spent the latter half of the afternoon yesterday reacquainting myself with the hand building process. I only made 3 mugs, but after building these and remembering the steps involved, I feel confident that I can make these more efficiently today.
Close up of mug and hollow handle
This mug was made using a template that I made from – you guessed it – a pint sized beer glass sitting in my cupboard. While my goal is to use custom lino-cuts and textures to print my work, I used a heavy embossed paper to print the design onto these slabs and then assembled the mugs one at a time. I think I can probably work on about 4 at a time today if I work fast. The trick is using a fairly wet and plastic slab of clay. If the clay stiffens too much, it will crack and won’t cooperate. The handles are also hollow and are from a template that Annie gave all the participants of a hand-building workshop last summer here in Denver.
I love the look of the fat handles, but am not sure if I’d prefer holding one of these or a thinner pulled one. I should glaze a mug and test it out pretty soon. I might use underglazes to get the eye popping color I’m looking for in my pottery since I haven’t worked out a new glaze palette yet.
Slab built hump molded serving dishes with wheel thrown dip bowls
I’ve been reacquainting myself with my wheel again too which is just like riding a bike. Since I have an abundance of clay scraps sitting around, I’ve been recycling clay old school – add water, put on plaster slab, wedge when dry enough. The result is a really, really soft porcelain clay body that needs a slightly different touch than when it comes fresh out of the bag. Very gentle on the joints; however, overly forceful movements can cause a pot to slump unexpectedly or warp something fierce.
In other news, I was recently contacted by a local wellness/massage business that will be opening in Denver next year to make some custom mugs for them and am going to start working on some prototypes shortly. The mugs have an interesting twist – so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, I fear that we might go straight to winter from summer – SNOW is in the forecast for Denver this weekend! Say it ain’t so. Actually, gauging from the temps that the meteorologists are predicting, if we get any snow it will be the wet slushy kind, though we will be experiencing the first hard freeze of the season.
It’s a good thing I ripped my tomatoes out of the garden last weekend and I’m drying herbs in my kitchen too which smells delicious. I now have an abundance of green tomatoes, some of which are ripening on my kitchen counters and many others that will require some culinary creativity. I want to thank whoever it was that suggested the podcast “The Splendid Table” – I just love listening to the show and have many new and interesting ideas of how to use green tomatoes including chutney, tomato pie, relish, salsa, and of course fried green tomatoes.
That’s it for today,
~Cynthia
Judi Tavill
October 9, 2008 at 9:55 am //
Your work is looking great!!!!
Enjoy!!!
Heidi Elliott
October 9, 2008 at 10:57 am //
Mmmm, the smell of moldy clay. There is nothing else like it. I had a fellow student try to encourage mold growth in her clay by putting milk in it. Talk about stinky…
You mugs are lovely. I really like the organic shape of the serving dishes. They look like they could be very fun to make. Very expressive.
BTW, I was thinking of your reliefs on your mugs the other day. There is a book I just picked up that talks about printing techniques: Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens (Spiral-bound) (http://www.amazon.com/Printing-Hand-Handmade-Stencils-Screens/dp/1584796723/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223574877&sr=8-1).
In the book she talks about making stamps from the foam sheets with the sticky backing. She can easily cut out the shapes and place them on clear acrylic blocks. I thought that this might also be a way the you could stamp the clay slabs. Though I am not sure if the foam would be hard enough to make a good impression. I perused the book at a local book store to see what the contents were before I purchased it. I think that the techniques she outlines would work just as well for clay as it does for fabric and paper.
Cynthia
October 9, 2008 at 12:36 pm //
Judi – thanks!
Heidi – I just requested the book from my local library – sounds fascinating too. I love looking at mediums outside of clay for inspiration! And – eww – gross, milk in clay? How about just a warm, dark, wet place instead?
Shawn McCann
October 9, 2008 at 1:31 pm //
These are looking great Cynthia. I can’t wait to see them in their full glory. I especially like the dishes with the bowls!
ang
October 9, 2008 at 3:58 pm //
the tall mugs are looking great, you’ve just given me an idea on the texture side of things…I’m also playing with some illustrative tiles from plaster carvings at the mo think i’ll add some organic textures too…
Undaunted
October 9, 2008 at 8:38 pm //
The mugs look great and I just love those serving dishes and bowls! I swear one day I am going to run away to America and visit all the authors of my favourite art blogs! I’ll spend months pestering everyone in their studios! (Imagine Dee Dee voice saying “Ooooh, what are you doing?” to Dexter in his lab!)
The book you recommended is fantastic. I read about the mould thing in there. I was so glad to learn that old and recycled clay is good – I have loads of clay at home that is just not getting used (I bought some and then a teacher gave me some that her school was throwing away – because it was old!) so at least I know it won’t be wasted.
Oh, so much to learn, so little time…
Linda Starr
October 9, 2008 at 9:04 pm //
Love the look of your new plates and bowls
Anne W
October 9, 2008 at 10:19 pm //
Good job spending more time in the studio, Cynthia! Looking forward to seeing those serving dish sets fired.
Speaking of the smell of moldy clay, when my youngest was just learning to talk she was in the studio one day as I was throwing. I looked over and noticed her sniffing them. “What’s that smell like Meara?” Her response: “Money”. heheheh
(A potter’s child or what?)
Re the mold in your paperclay slip.. I went to a paper clay workshop with Rosette Gault (the paperclay P’Clay lady) oh.. a million years ago. Okay, in the mid 90s. You are much better off healthwise to let your paper clay slip dry out and reconstitute it when you need it again. Same for paper clay and paper clay slip. Moldy paperclay slip is nasty and stinks way worse than regular clay mold.
FYI Rosette’s site (http://www.paperclayart.com/) has gads and GADS of glorious info on the wonders of paperclay. Click on her “safety” tab to read more on the mold, proper storage, etc..
Take care!
Cynthia
October 10, 2008 at 5:58 am //
Shawn – Thanks
I normally make these using the stoneware, but made these in porcelain for an order – I hope they don’t slump during glaze firing. I’m making a double set in stoneware just in case. (the bowls will be fine – it’s the flat pieces that might have issues)
Ang – I’m thinking of bisque firing some of the textures to use as texture plates and even creating some random ones. I also found some funky sink mats from the store that I’m going to try using today.
Linda U – run away – run away! Now that the price of commercially made clay has almost doubled, I’m very careful to recycle what I have in the form of scraps – even if it’s just to make slip. Where did I just see a little tutorial on how to reconstitute clay – might have been http://ceramicartsdaily.org/ (which sends out free daily tips and videos that you might be interested in now that you’re taking a clay class) and the person uses an old hammock and some kind of fabric to suspend the clay slurry which drains the clay and then wedge.
Linda S –
Anne – terrific story about your little one! I thought about starting with a fresh bit of slip, but since I didn’t have a ton of it, I’m using it. It’s not so smelly now that I’ve stirred it thoroughly and have had the lid open while I use it. I was under the impression that the addition of the paper pulp was the culprit. Funny thing is that I still have a jar of paper pulp suspended in water in my studio that I made this summer and it’s not moldy or funky at all. Mixing it with the organic clay does weird things.
Thanks for the link too – I’m going to visit Rosette’s site right now! I’ve only ever used paper clay slip and maybe a little clay to occasionally repair bisque cracks – but I did watch someone make super thin paper clay work that was feather light after firing several years ago.
Anne W
October 11, 2008 at 7:23 am //
Its pretty amazing stuff, Cynthia. Changes ALL the rules for clay. I thought it would be the perfect clay for teaching kids since its so forgiving. The only bad thing is the shelf life is so short, and moreso when you make it yourself. The commercial paperclay (aka P’Clay) is a really nice even consistency and its so nice to just open the bag up and there it is! Ready to use.
You might be able to get her book from the library or, if you wanted to buy it, its $26.50 from the Potters Shop:
http://thepottersshop.blogspot.com/2006/05/throwing-handbuilding-paper-clay.html
She is THE paperclay guru. heheh..
Paper is really just a bunch of fiber. It gets extra funky when added to clay because there is already organic matter and bacteria in the clay. The longer clay ages, the more breakdown of the organic matter and the more plastic the clay gets. etc etc etc. Its the interaction between the factors.
Anne W
October 11, 2008 at 7:24 am //
meant to say fiber on its own is pretty inert.
Cynthia
October 11, 2008 at 10:01 am //
Mile Hi Ceramics sells 2 types of manufactured paper clay -
CT-3 (^ 06-2) and Biz Bod (^6-10). I’ve never used the latter, but did use the former for my kid’s class at Anderson Ranch this summer. Pretty forgiving stuff. While I used the Art Student’s League of Denver studios, there was a person there who made some pretty fantastic sculptures with the paper clay.
The porcelain P’Clay on Rosette’s site looks pretty cool – the gallery of work that showed the ultra translucent porcelain work is gorgeous.
I’m going to look for the book you mentioned from the library.
Undaunted
October 12, 2008 at 6:18 pm //
Ooh wow, thanks for the link Cynthia!
Lynette
October 12, 2008 at 8:05 pm //
eek, moldy clay does sound like it would smell pretty bad LOL. Those cups are oh so gorgeous Cyn!!
Gray
October 13, 2008 at 1:26 am //
For some rally inspirational websites of people working in paperclay/Pclay/paper clay check out the list and links from http://www.grahamhay.com.au/paperclayartists.html
patricia griffin
October 13, 2008 at 5:18 am //
Hi Cynthia! Just catching up on blog-reading. Wow, what a great post. Full of juicy info! I love your serving dishes/dip bowls… I’ll bet you’ll find you’re spending more like 50 hours a week on clay- and art-related activities!
Anne W
October 13, 2008 at 7:24 am //
Yeah ..very forgiving stuff. She took a dry, warped slab of clay, dipped it in a bucket of water and re-rolled it. The whole room of verteran potters gasped in amazement. I find her web site a little cumbersome. Wish you could go to one of her workshops..
Cynthia
October 13, 2008 at 8:29 am //
Gray – thanks so much for the link the international roster of paper clay artists! I’ve book marked the site and think I’ll post a link in my next post – gorgeous gorgeous work. I’m getting a hankering for trying some paper clay in earnest – not just using the slip.
Patricia – I haven’t started tracking my computer/business end of things yet, but I think I work at this much more than full time. I’ve seriously been trying to talk my husband into going into business with me for the last year. He’d bring the business acumen as well as his artistic touch. He’d be great at throwing and he has some great design ideas too.
Anne – pretty interesting, after seeing the link Gray left, I think I’m going to pick up a bag of commercial paper clay at mile hi ceramics next time I make a run. The website is a little cumbersome…