Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Paper clay And Structural Support

Case Study: "Within Us"

This is the completed piece. It is mounted with a stainless steel pin into a solid textured aluminum block.

The issue arises when it comes time to fire the piece, first in the bisque fire and then to Cone 10 reduction. Due to the shape of this piece, I knew I had to create some kind of a support or scaffolding to prop up the piece during the firing process, and one that is strong enough to withstand a high fire at Cone 10.

The scaffolding was made from paper clay with a combination of dry-to-dry and leather hard-to-dry joining techniques.








Creating a piece is one thing, completing it is another. In a piece like this where there is no stable base for the piece to rest on, I had to devise something. Paper clay allows me to easily "engineer" this support to accomplish this end.

For the story behind this piece, click on this link.

This piece is in a private collection in Orange County, CA.









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