Question:
What are some easy projects?
Textured cylinder
What you'll need:
Clay, I suggest raku
rolling pin
cardboard roll(anything from a toilet roll to gladwrap roll)
sheet of newspaper
sticky tape
collected texture tools.
Roll and texture your slab, leave to harden for approx 15 minutes, until it is workable.
Cover your cardboard roll with newspaper just tightly enough so the newspaper just moves on the roll.
Measure and cut the clay to fit the roll with approx 1/2" overlap.
Gently roll the clay onto your covered cardboard roll
and join with your fingers.
Cut around the base of the cylinder, and while still on your cardboard join to the cylinder.
Leave till leather hard, the smooth the joins.
These make great vases, be sure to glaze inside and out, or pencil/pen holders, you could also attach a handle to use as a personalised mug.
Slipcasting
Methods of Forming with Clay.
We're most familiar with un-fired clay in the moist or "Play Dough" state. But if we consider the fired clay objects we encounter in our lives, most are formed from either liquid clay (slip) or dry clay powder.
Slip casting is commonly used to mass-produce the low-cost dishware and pottery (vases, flower pots, knickknacks...) we have all around us. Even toilets are cast from dense porcelain. Slip is poured into plaster molds which absorb moisture from the clay at the surface of the mold. This clay solidifies to form the cast piece. After the excess slip is poured from the mold, the piece is allowed to partially dry and then removed from the mold.
Simple slab pieces
Try rolling a simple slab, approx 1/2" thick, use a cookie cutter, to cut out shapes, decorate with underglaze, then finish with clear glaze.
The variations to this are endless, you could draw a design onto some paper, then using carbon paper, trace it onto the clay and use it as your template to cut around, this is particularly good, as you have the lines to follow for your decoration. You can add pieces of clay to build a texture, or accentuate a piece with a later lustre firing.
The object of the exercise is to let your head go, and have fun with it. The recipient will be pleased you made the effort!!!
*Happy Potting*
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| Guru Spotlight |
| Jolyn Wells-Moran |
