Kate McCoy on sat 14 nov 09
Hi all,
so, I don't think I will be throwing any more paper clay. You may wonder
why I tried in the first place. I was doing some sculptural pieces and
wanted to add some thrown parts and thought they might adhere better.
Here's what I found:
I had to reduce the amount of paper to make it throwable. It threw
fairly well. But, I don't think it was worth the time making it with
that small amount of paper.
Trimming was the BIG problem. Tools lose their edge really fast, and
stopping to sharpen them was not fun, and was very time consuming.
Carving and piercing , well that was even worse
Perhaps it was me, but I didn't notice that attaching was any easier
than with regular clay. I have however noticed that the piece seems
lighter (weight) than with regular clay - perhaps it will be even
lighter when fired and the paper burns out. An advantage perhaps.
I am going to try working with one clay body - one with and one without
paper and see how they work together.
I'm not sure I like the texture of the fired clay, at least the unglazed
stuff.
Using slabs, I noticed slightly less warping - or maybe my technique is
improving! (Thanks for all the recent info on slab rolling everyone)
They aren't fired yet, but even if they match other non p-clay pieces, I
found it not worth the extra time and trouble.
Anyone got other opinions, reasons for using it?
Kate
Olympia, WA
Sumi von Dassow on sun 15 nov 09
Kate
Here in Denver, Mile Hi Ceramics makes a paper clay - and so does Laguna -
and they are very easy to use. I would never want to make my own after usin=
g
the commercial varieties. I like to throw paper-clay, because you can
make a
form taller and thinner and wider than regular clay, though I avoid
trimming, or
I trim very soft. It is hard to smooth the surface completely, even if
you run over
the freshly thrown pot with a rib. Trimming while the clay is
cheese-hard rather
than leather-hard is much easier on the tools and allows you to rib over
the freshly
trimmed surface to smooth it. Paper-clay is difficult to carve or pierce
or extrude,
however. Many of my students like to use it for sculptural work because
you can
re-moisten it easily if it dries too much between working sessions, or
for slab work
where the slab is going to be stretched, because you can push it and
stretch it and
it won't tear through as quickly. It does seem to hold up well in raku,
and the fired
work is indeed a bit lighter in weight - though it will always be
porous, and thus more
fragile than a fully vitrified stoneware. And one student who has been
making a lot
of tiles (trivets and decorative tiles) has settled on paper clay
because it warps less
than anything else, so I think your observation there is correct.
Sumi
>
>
> so, I don't think I will be throwing any more paper clay. You may wonder
> why I tried in the first place. I was doing some sculptural pieces and
> wanted to add some thrown parts and thought they might adhere better.
>
> Here's what I found:
>
> I had to reduce the amount of paper to make it throwable. It threw
> fairly well. But, I don't think it was worth the time making it with
> that small amount of paper.
>
> Trimming was the BIG problem. Tools lose their edge really fast, and
> stopping to sharpen them was not fun, and was very time consuming.
> Carving and piercing , well that was even worse
>
> Perhaps it was me, but I didn't notice that attaching was any easier
> than with regular clay. I have however noticed that the piece seems
> lighter (weight) than with regular clay - perhaps it will be even
> lighter when fired and the paper burns out. An advantage perhaps.
>
> I am going to try working with one clay body - one with and one without
> paper and see how they work together.
>
> I'm not sure I like the texture of the fired clay, at least the unglazed
> stuff.
>
> Using slabs, I noticed slightly less warping - or maybe my technique is
> improving! (Thanks for all the recent info on slab rolling everyone)
>
> They aren't fired yet, but even if they match other non p-clay pieces, I
> found it not worth the extra time and trouble.
>
> Anyone got other opinions, reasons for using it?
>
> Kate
> Olympia, WA
>
>
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