Happy New Year!

I am excited to be starting 2010. It’s going to be a year of change and creativity. I’m coming off hiatus and will be able to spend a lot of time in the studio this year; that’s a good thing because I have a whiteboard full of ideas to start working on.

I’m going to change the content of this blog a little bit, and talk more about the creative process, in addition to continuing with the how-to posts. So while I plan to do picture posts with step-by-step instructions, I’ll be adding shorter posts in between that talk about what I’m up to in the studio. I promise I’ll try to keep the rants to a minimum.

Here’s to you and yours, may 2010 bring you the best of everything.

This post demonstrates how the plaster press molds were made for the fridge magnets that were started in the last post. When we left off, I had just finished making the models that I wanted to mold.

	First things first. I stuck the models that I wanted to mold to a piece of plastic coated MDF. Then, I rolled out some clay coils and flattened them with a small roller. These were wrapped around the models to form walls, leaving about 1/2″ of space between the model and the coil walls.
Note that the board is wet where I’m sticking the coils down. Pressing the flattened coils onto the wet board gave a nice, firm seal to prevent plaster from leaking out the bottom.The clay was left to firm up for about an hour.
	Mixing the plaster. The plaster powder was added to the water and allowed to sit for about 15 minutes, then gently stirred by hand until it was the consistency of thick cream. Mmmm… yummy.
I don’t have the picture here, but as I’ve said before - successful plaster work requires preparation! I had my plaster cleanup bucket, a plastic-bag lined container, and sponge right there, for a quick cleanup after pouring.
	The plaster was gently poured into the casting forms. Pouring gently helps prevent annoying and evil air bubbles from forming on the surface of the mold.
Next - a fast cleanup! I had my plaster wash bucket on the table and when the pouring was finished, everything was cleaned up right away. It doesn’t take long for plaster to set up and ruin your stuff, so be prepared!
	The molds were allowed to set up for about an hour.
	Once set up, the clay forms were removed from around the plaster molds. It was as simple as pulling the coils off the edges, and gently knocking the molds to loosen them from the board.
	Here’s the mold turned over. You can see that the mold is the reverse impression of the model that was carved in the last post.
	I used a rasp to clean up the edges, then sponged the mold out with clean water.
	The molds will be completely dry and ready to use in about 24 hours.

In the next post, I’ll demonstrate using the press molds to make the magnets.

A while back, some friends and local business owners asked if I could make some fridge magnets with their store logo on it. We talked about a few ideas, then I went to work. My next few posts will detail the steps that I took to make these custom creations.

The first step in the process was to make a plaster press mold for each magnet design. This required making one of each design for casting.

I had to figure out the size for the fridge magnets. I resized the logo graphic on the computer until it looked good, then printed it out. I rolled out a thin slab of clay and let it sit out and firm up for a while. Then, I placed the logo onto the clay and used a ball-point needle tool to impress the outlines of the logo onto the clay. The next step was to gently start carving, leaving the logo raised. I concentrated on the main letters and flower on the logo in the beginning.

Once the rough carving was finished, I went back over the piece to smooth out the high spots. Then I cleaned up and softened the edges with a sponge.

Next, the finer parts of the design were needed. Vines, leaves and lettering were added with a syringe fitted with a fine tip. The additions were sharpened with a carving tool, and the cast was finished.

I also made a couple of simpler designs with daisies and the business name in freehand. The daisies came from the sprig molds that I made a while back, in this post.

In the next post, I’ll demonstrate pouring the plaster and casting the molds for the magnets.

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.

I attended a fantastic paperclay scuplture workshop this past weekend. It took place in Sedona, Arizona - a lovely red rock town located about 30 miles south of Flagstaff, at the Sedona Arts Center. The workshop was taught by internationally acclaimed artist Lorri Acott-Fowler. I first met Lorri a year ago at another paperclay workshop, where we were both attendees and I was lucky enough to land at the table with she and her father.

I am typically not a sculptor (although I’d like to be), but I love trying my hand at new things, and I love paperclay. It’s amazing stuff - simply clay with paper fibers mixed in, with amazing strength and behavior that is quite different from normal clay. You can stick dry to wet, and continue building on a piece without the worry of cracks or overdrying.

Lorri is known for her abstracted human forms. She taught us her method for making figures, which includes a large metal spike or rebar in the legs. Here is a tiny woman that I made, using Lorri’s technique for the armature. This piece is cold-finished, meaning it is not fired. It is painted with acrylics and will be left in the green stage. That’s another amazing thing about paperclay - it is much stronger in the green stage than traditional clay.

Because my lady is only about five inches tall, I used steel wire in her legs, as shown below. Once the piece was dried stiff, I built the rest of the figure onto it, allowing for drying stages when needed.

The pictures are a bit fuzzy, but if you look at the larger versions, you can see the paper fibers sticking out of the clay. In a fired piece, the paper simply burns out, leaving clay behind. In a painted piece, the fibers are matted down by the clay and are not apparent in the finished piece.

I also made a kiln fish at the workshop. I’ll talk about that in my next post.