Zizziba Studio Handcrafted Ceramics » Paperclay Sculpture

05/10/2009 (10:28 am)

Paperclay Sculpture - Kiln Fish

Another piece that came out of the paperclay workshop was this fish. I have long wanted to make a kiln fish - believed to bring good luck to firings, the fish is hung somewhere on the kiln house. I think it’s usually hung near the opening of a traditional wood-fired kiln. For mine, I’d like to hang the fish on the inside of the kiln house, right next to the kiln.

Day 1: First, I made the armature by bending medium-gauge steel wire and sticking the ends into wet paperclay disks. I also stuck some straight pieces for the tail. The armature provides a frame for the rest of the sculpture to be built onto. In this case, the back of the fish will be flat, so the armature only needs to be on the top half. I
allowed this to dry in the sun for a couple of hours.

Next, I laid slabs over the armature to create the basic form for the fish. The slabs were a little bit saggy between the wires, so I made some clay supports and put them inside the fish.

I shaped the slabs and blended them together using water and my fingers. Once I had the basic shape, I let the form sit overnight. This allowed it to firm up enough so I could push on it without distorting the shape.

Day 2: The next step was to add some detail. I put on the gill, lips and eye. At this point the form was nicely firm so I was able to work without compromising the structure. I also carved out part of the mouth so it appears to be a hole like it’s supposed to be.

Now the fun part. I added scales by making tiny balls of paperclay, then squashing them onto the form. I started at the tail and worked my way forward. I’m not sure how many scales I put onto the fish - it seemed like hundreds! I just kept going and would give my hands a break when they’d get tired.

I started to put scales on the face and cheeks, then changed my mind and removed them. Scaling complete, I added detail to the tail and put his fins on.

The addition of the dorsal fin, and the fish is complete. I let him sit overnight to firm up really well before handling any further.

Day 3: By the next morning, the fish was stiff enough to handle. I removed him from his board and glazed with three coats: First, a layer of copper raku glaze, next a variety of cone 04 Amaco velvet underglazes (pictured here), and finally, a layer of cone 04 clear glaze. You might be thinking this is a really strange glaze combination, and you’d be right! The initial idea was to raku fire the fish, but he was too heavy and too big to fit into the raku firing. Thinking this was a low fire paperclay, I decided to put a low-fire raku glaze and fire it at home to see how it turned out.

Then we discovered that the clay was actually high-fire, cone 10 clay! By that time, the fish was already coated with the 04 raku glaze. So, I decided to carry on with the colors and clear top-coat, and to fire him at home with the next bisque firing. What’s the worst that can happen? So, the fish is in the kiln as I write this, and my next post will feature a picture of the results. Happy swimming, little fishie!

To give a sense of scale, pre-fire, the fish was about fourteen inches long.