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paperclay/raku

updated mon 19 jun 00

 

Keiko Suga & Noel Oard Mapstead on sat 17 jun 00


yes its possible to use paper clay as a clay body for raku. or you could make your
own, by wedging one roll of
disolved toilet paper to 25 pounds of clay.


i have invented a raku clay body that will withstand microwave. i call it microwave
raku. i make microwave
tea cups from wet clay to fired and glazed in 15 minutes. i call this the fast food
of ceramics.


noel mapstead...esalen institute, big sur, ca.....www.mapstead.com/noel

Jens Gruhlke wrote:

> Hey,is it posible to make raku with paperclay. How is the character of paperclay.
>
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Jens Gruhlke on sat 17 jun 00


Hey,is it posible to make raku with paperclay. How is the character of =
paperclay.=20

Marcia Selsor on sat 17 jun 00


Jens,
Yes you can add paper pulp to any clay body. I use it in my raku to make
them lighter to pick up. I make large slabs up tp 25" long and they can
be heavy at the end of tongs. Look at the raku slabs at the silverhawk
site below my name. You probably couldn't notice that it it paper clay
except for their weight.

Marcia in Montana

Jens Gruhlke wrote:
>
> Hey,is it posible to make raku with paperclay. How is the character of paperclay.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.

--
Marcia Selsor
selsor@imt.net
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/spain99.html
http://www.silverhawk.com/ex99/selsor/welcome.html

Bruce Gioia on sun 18 jun 00


Hey,is it posible to make raku with paperclay. How is the character of
paperclay.
_______________________________

Actually it is ideally suited to raku as the thermal properties
are improved with the opening up of the body structure.
(waterproofing will be compromised)

The ratio of paper fibre to clay will have
a great impact on the handling qualities.
Also depending on the courseness of the fibres used
and the degree of blend ie. clumps of paper etc.

Most irritating was the tendacy for the clay to "drag"
while manipulating and modeling.
It is best approached by yeilding to these tendancies
and finding ways in which material itself wishes to be handled.

For example I found that making slabs by pouring
a layer of pulpy/groggy slip on a plaster bat
yeilded a highly textured clay material (semi-leather hard)
that when crudely formed in hunks around a paper ball
and glued with an abundance of slip (careful the slip rots fast ie.stinks)
wonderfully primitive type pots were possible...
this quality was further enhanced while sitting around the camp fire
toasting /steaming and lightly burnishing the pot with the hand.

My experiments were limited to one fomula/preparation style.
You can explore different character with preparation/ratio variation.
For example ball milling to improve throwing/modeling quality.
Also fibre sources ie. cotton vs.wood based pulp etc.

Paper clay offer exciting possibilities...
especially if you wish to move away from
labour intensive details and would like to get into
gestural application in a constructive mode
particularly in the frame work of a sculptural dimension.

I wonder if this is being dishonest with the medium?
To hell with rigid fundamentalist attitudes..I loved it.

Bruce




In the final analysis I only noted the reduced weight.

Richard Jeffery on sun 18 jun 00


Yup, I do it all the time. I use either a commercial raku body as a basis,
or sometimes a mix of porcelain and T Material (or substitute, given price
of latter).

It's mainly slab stuff at the moment - you can go really thin, and the slabs
have good mechanical strength in the green stage. Haven't thrown it. Takes
a good black...

Richard

Bournemouth UK

-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Jens Gruhlke
Sent: 17 June 2000 21:45
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: paperclay/raku


Hey,is it posible to make raku with paperclay. How is the character of
paperclay.

____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org

You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/

Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.

Bruce Gioia on sun 18 jun 00


Hey,is it posible to make raku with paperclay. How is the character of
paperclay.
_______________________________

Actually it is ideally suited to raku as the thermal properties
are improved with the opening up of the body structure.
(waterproofing will be compromised)

The ratio of paper fibre to clay will have
a great impact on the handling qualities.
Also depending on the courseness of the fibres used
and the degree of blend ie. clumps of paper etc.

Most irritating was the tendacy for the clay to "drag"
while manipulating and modeling.
It is best approached by yeilding to these tendancies
and finding ways in which material itself wishes to be handled.

For example I found that making slabs by pouring
a layer of pulpy/groggy slip on a plaster bat
yeilded a highly textured clay material (semi-leather hard)
that when crudely formed in hunks around a paper ball
and glued with an abundance of slip (careful the slip rots fast =
ie.stinks)
wonderfully primitive type pots were possible...
this quality was further enhanced while sitting around the camp fire
toasting /steaming and lightly burnishing the pot with the hand.

My experiments were limited to one fomula/preparation style.
You can explore different character with preparation/ratio variation.
For example ball milling to improve throwing/modeling quality.
Also fibre sources ie. cotton vs.wood based pulp etc.

Paper clay offer exciting possibilities...
especially if you wish to move away from
labour intensive details and would like to get into
gestural application in a constructive mode
particularly in the frame work of a sculptural dimension.

I wonder if this is being dishonest with the medium?
To hell with rigid fundamentalist attitudes..I loved it.

Bruce

=20