Terra Sigillata. Sigilla-what? Sig-ill-ata!
Marie
I am now on the journey of using terra sigillata to begin the decorating of Nugget and finally Norris, the moon animal will be on the piece. So what exactly is terra sigillata?

Terra Sigillata is what the ancient world used before they had modern day glazes.It is a mixture of dried clay and coloring and water. It comes in mainly white, creme, black, red, and brown. For instance, the Greeks red and black vases are a prime example of this.

There are specific formulas for it, like a recipe for cooking. The one that I made the other day, for instance, had to have 28 pounds of water to 14 pounds of dried ground up, powder form clay. Then after mixing the terra sigillata, we had to let it set. It takes anywhere from 48 hours to 5 days to set the mixture just right. Once it is set there are three distinctive layers in the bucket. The top coat is the water that has pulled to the top, the bottom is left over clay sedatives, and the middle is the good stuff. The middle is the terra sigillata. This is what is used to decorate the pots.

Everything in the ceramics world takes a while to dry. So before I can begin glazing my second piece inspired by Barbra Hepworth it has to dry, which means I am moving on to another piece.


I am now in the process of building a reliquary, but not your ordinary square box with decorations on it. I am making something to hold my Pisces spirit. What better for a Pisces spirit than a coral reef! Clever right? Well I thought so. In order for it to look important and not like a diorama I am morphing it with what will be it’s base. The base will be an ionic column, with curvy flutes. What I am most excited about is the experimentation I will get to do with texture, and once it dries out enough, the bright colored glazes I will get to use! Bright colors make me so happy. Don’t believe me? Take a peek at the bedroom I painted Sunkist orange.

The little curly plants in the picture below is what inspired me for the ionic columns.

While I am working on this Coral Reef Reliquary, I am using recycled clay. Yep, I said recycled clay. I had no idea you could do this, but turns out you can. You take pieces of dried up, hard clay then soak it in water. The water puts the moisture back into it. Then you use a machine called a pug mill.

This is an example of a pug mill. The tube coming out of the right is the clay!

As you are putting the clay into the pug mill you make sure there are no random items in it, like a spoon, or rubber ribs (we found these when we were using the pug mill). The pug mill, with the mixture of grog (pulverized fired clay or even temper), push it out into clay bars, which in turn can be reused for more projects. It is very nice to not have to go to the store to get more clay, but to reuse stuff people didn’t need or want. Talk about being green!



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The Inspiration Piece
Marie
For the past month, I have been steadily working on my inspiration piece from Barbra Hepworth. The original idea came from her particular piece "Wave" 1943-1944.



The way that her "Wave" was circular, and it was enclosed was what really inspired my sketch. Of course, I had to make it my own, and make it relatable to the original Peru Mouse and Bottle piece. So I really wanted to recreate the circular "Wave" but have it sort of double barreled.


Now this has all been easier said than done. Unfortunately for me, I like to make things harder on my self than necessary. What can I say, I like a challenge. First off, I tried making the piece by creating a hump mold, and then draping the clay over it, allowing the clay to dry in the sort of curved angles. Well it did not work, but that is a common theme with this piece. Then I tried doing it opposite of the hump mold and created a slump mold, allowing the clay to sink into the piece, still curving.
My Sketches of the piece


This was more successful so I began to put together each of my pieces. However, the particular kind of clay that I have got from a clay distributor is not as malleable or plastic as the previous kind I had worked with. It began drying quickly and not wanting to really stay in shape of the piece. I then had to realize that I had to work with these pieces lying down horizontally, not vertically as I had intended. As they were lying down on their side, I had to put in slabs of clay as an inner support for the structure.

As I am nearing completion of this piece, my professor, tells me he doesn’t think it is going to work so well and that I needed to finish this one and then start making another one by using the extruder. The extruder is like a big play dough press. You put the template in, followed by the clay then mash it down with the handle and WaaLaa! You have out the other end the shape of clay you need!

So I go ahead and finish up this piece, and it is massive. It is about 50 pounds of clay and twenty-five inches tall (once it is set up right) and about a foot in depth. I am way to weak to lift the thing by myself! Luckily I was able to save this project! I don’t know how I did it, but I was able to manipulate the clay in a way that it worked out! It took so much stress off of me! It makes me so incredibly happy that I don’t have to make it again!

This piece will not be able to stand up vertically on it’s own until after we fire it in the kiln. The reason is because clay has different states that it goes through. As you are working with it, it is plastic or malleable. Then as it begins to dry it reaches this leather hard state where it is tough, and still workable to an extent. This is the state my piece is in right now. But once it reaches the bone dry state, the piece is very fragile. I don’t think the weight of my piece sitting up vertically will be able to withstand the pressures of the gravity while it is in this bone dry stage. So I will fire it lying on its side, and then sit it up. I will have pictures of it up later, after I can sit it up.
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To coil or pinch; that is the question.
Marie
This has been my first experience coiling and pinching to create a hollow piece. The process is quite tedious at first but once you get the hang of it, all the sudden you have to stop building because the clay will be too wet and will collapse if you don’t! Over the period of the past few weeks I have been coiling my piece starting at the base slab of clay. I unfortunately had to make 3 pieces in the time most of the class has had to make one. What can I say I like to make things difficult on myself!


Trying to figure out how we were going to connect the two vases was probably the most difficult part. I had to build up both pots up to about 26 centimeters. Then I had to cut a perfect circle out of the sides of both of the pots. Easy thing to do with the little compass tool we have. I don’t think I can hand draw a perfect circle to save my life let alone 2 symmetrical ones. Anyways after they both have circles in their sides I rolled out a slab of clay and had to squeeze my hand in and the clay into the almost closed pots to connect the two together. After it was in place then I blended with a serrated rib, think of the edge of a serrated knife but in the shape of an oval that has been cut in half.

Once it was put together I had to make Nugget. Nugget had to go on the one side of the pot first; due to the fact that I would have to reach through the hole joining the pots and blend Nugget underneath into the inside of the pot to attach him.To make Nugget, he had to be hollow as well. So it was the pinching process I used for him with some coiling thrown in. Most of the front side of Nugget is coiled while his bottom is pinched into place. I started with the front part of Nugget’s body, followed by attaching, then cutting off and re-attaching his back side. Trying to get him the absolute correct size was near impossible due to the fact that the pictures I had to measure Nugget from where taken at an angle. So Nugget is a best guess when it comes to his length and truth be told he is probably a little long. But that is ok; I think he is cute none the less. I love Nugget’s big ears! They match his personality.

Well, after attaching Nugget the rest was history, just adding on the neck to the other vase. Overall I am extremely happy with the way it turned out. I think considering this is my first time coiling and making the piece hollow I did remarkably well. I am happy with it and as long as I like it that is all that matters! After all it will be sitting in my house right? Yes and I just realized that Nugget is on the wrong side of the pot! Ooops!

Now let’s hope it does not blow up in the kiln. Not likely to happen all the time but it does happen due to air bubbles in the clay that pull the water into it creating a pressure that can screw your piece up by going ka-ploo-ee! So I am hoping that I was able to apply enough pressure using the serrated rib to get rid of any air bubbles. Nugget protect your pot and be brave!



For the next part of the project, we have to design how the piece would look if a modern (1900 and up) artist were to design the piece. I am inspired by Barbra Hepworth. Take a look at some of her work. Just Google and up pops her stuff. Completely abstract and beautiful! I am totally inspired for this piece!


http://www.nmwa.org/collection/profile.asp?LinkID=858

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My Beginning
Marie
I remember as a kid playing in the dirt. I was outside often with my friends that my mom babysat and we would make up all sorts of imaginary games, using only the elements the earth had given us. Making mud pies, writing my name, even drawing out a map to some buried treasure. Somethings never do change do they? I am still playing in the dirt or a form of it. I love working with clay, molding and shaping, feeling the ooze of the clay between my fingers. I seem to never be able to get the clay out from underneath my fingernails, since every time I turn around I am working in it! I guess I kind of like it that way though, it shows who I am and what my passion is for. Now don't get me wrong, my passion is not for just clay or ceramics but for sculpture as well, which is why I am currently working toward my BFA with a concentration in sculpture and ceramics.

My most recent love affair with clay (I had one in my teens with polymer) didn't start in my ceramic class as you might assume. It actually started in my sculpture one class when I was charged by my professor to create a life size bust of myself. To make it more fun I decided to make a face, a sad pouting face. It ended up weighing around 50 pounds by the time I was done with it. That experience was all I needed to be hooked not only to clay but to the idea of working in the round or 3-d.

Now I am finally in ceramics one, and I invited you to follow me in my journey of this class and of my art work. The first project is to reproduce an antique item (1800’s or before) in a larger scale. I have chosen to take on the ridiculous task of making a double vessel, titled Mouse with Bottle. Keep in mind the original height of the piece is only 6 inches (approx.) but I get the fun of making it 16 inches!

It is from the Recuay Civilization which was in Peru, located in the north Andes Mountains, near present-day Recuay in the Callejón de Huaylas Valley. The civilization lasted from around 1200 BC to about 800 AD. The Recuay are most known for their pottery which usually has some sort of animals or men attached to it. Hence the lovely mouse on the top of the vessel.

I have decided to name him Nugget, since goodness knows the art historians never will! Nugget is really what drew me to the piece. I wanted to know why he was there, and what importance did this mouse have to the Recuay culture. Unfortunately research is still on going and at this time they don’t know much about Nugget. They do however know that the weird looking animal drawn on the sides of the vessel is a moon animal or moon monster. Yep that little scrawny, big round eye animal with the curly tail, that would be the moon animal, I call him Norris.


As I get further along in the process of hand building this vessel I will update on how Nugget and Norris are doing. Stay tune for more!

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