wallace myers on thu 16 jul 98
Hi Mud Daubers:
Would someone please tell me how to mix paper clay?
Thanks, Wallace
clay&maxwell on fri 17 jul 98
Hi Wallace
I recently whipped up a batch of paperclay. I used a commercial dry clay
(low fire but I think you can use any clay body) and "watered" it to kind
of a yogurt or sour cream consistency. I used a mixer thingy attached to a
drill - (is there a proper name for this?) I used cotton linter bought at
an art store to make the paper pulp on the first batch and toilet paper for
the second batch :)_
I added hot water to the shredded cotton linter and soaked it over night in
a big ice cream pail (the big commercial kind). The next day I used the
drill-mixer to get the paper to break down. You have to test it with your
hand and see if it is breaking up into fibres - you don't want big lumps.
When the pulp was pulpy enough I put a yard stick in the clay and used this
as a measure to figure out the percent of pulp to add. For example if you
want 20% pulp and the clay measures to a depth of 10 inches then you would
add 2 inches of pulp. Since the pulp is floating in water you have to
"drain" it by scooping up buckets of the stuff and pouring it through a
kitchen type mesh strainer. I kind of flip the pulp around to get a lot of
the water out and then scoop it out with my hand and lay it on top of the
clay until I build up to the inches required. It's not a totally accurate
way to go but it worked for me! I mixed it all up with my handy
husband-made drill/mixer and then poured it onto plaster slabs to firm it
up. I also stained some batches of clay body with mason stains. I thought
they were kind of dull looking until I remembered that a clear glaze or
even an oiling or waxing would bring out the color.
In yesterday's post "paperclay update" I talked about the firing of my
pieces. I really enjoyed the strength and different "qualities" of the
paperclay. Check out the paperclay website http://www.paperclayart.com
good luck
Deb Clay
cdmax@cadvision.com
(if you have any questions or comments you'll have to be quick! I leave
for Australia next week and am going to "no mail" on Sunday)
;)
At 10:18 PM 7/16/98 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hi Mud Daubers:
> Would someone please tell me how to mix paper clay?
>Thanks, Wallace
>
>
Richard Burkett on sat 18 jul 98
Deb,
At 01:21 PM 7/17/98 EDT, you wrote:
>of a yogurt or sour cream consistency. I used a mixer thingy attached to a
>drill - (is there a proper name for this?)
"drill" You can get fancy and call it a power drill if you want to impress
people
the mixer thingy is the infamous jiffy mixer type thingy people have been
debating for the last week or so
Richard
in a Friday mood
_ Richard Burkett, Associate Professor of Art
_ School of Art, Design & Art History, SDSU, San Diego, CA 92182-4805
_ E-mail: richard.burkett@sdsu.edu - Phone: (619) 594-6201
_ School of Art URL: http://www.sdsu.edu/art
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