FINE ART

Ceramics

Some Tips and Tricks...

WEDGING clay helps remove air bubbles and mixes and compresses the clay.

Scoring is when you take any one of a number of tools and you make small marks on the surface of the clay you are working with.

Slip with the clay mixed with water. It is a paste-like consistency that acts like a flue for putting the two pieces of clay together.

In order to get one piece of clay to stick to another piece of clay, score and slip it.

If you see a small crack in your clay, take care of it immediately, Small cracks become larger cracks as the clay dries and shrinks.

Stages of Clay

Stages of Throwing on the Wheel

More Types of Sculpture...

Oaktag Sculpture

Materials Needed: Oaktag or similar material, Glue or Tape, Paint (optional)

You can use oaktag (tagboard), chipboard if you can find it, or even watercolor paper if it is thick enough. Begin with two squares taped or glued together in an ‘L’ shape for the base. Then add strips of different lengths, focusing on creating nonrepresentational sculptures featuring movement. Again, spray paint (or even acrylic paint) can enhance the look, but the sculpture itself can be successful with or without that addition

Altered Books

Materials Needed: Old/Discarded Books from your Library or Thrift Store,

Scissors/Exacto Knives, Glue

There are a million ways to do altered books, and a myriad of artists from which to draw inspiration. For the project to be truly sculptural, however, the pages need to be used to create three-dimensional forms. Two-dimensional aspects can be utilized, of course, but in this example the pages being formed into flowers are enough once the Barbie is added. Experiment!

Everyday Cardboard Items

Materials Needed: Cardboard, Glue, Paint (optional)

Think about an item...then figure out how to get your work to that point using cardboard and glue. Research artist - Claes Oldenburg. This project is a good challenge when you play with scale like he does. A contemporary artist creating these types of sculptures is Bartek Elsner, check out his work too! Huge nail clippers, toothbrushes, or cameras can be really cool, as are small scale bikes and cars. Think too, about objects of true to size - like this purse.

Geometric Newspaper Sculpture

Materials Needed: Newspaper, Tape, Spray Paint (optional)

Newspaper is almost always easy to come across. You can roll up newspaper and tape into small geometric shapes. Those geometric shapes are then combined and stacked to make a sculpture as tall as you want. If you’ve got some spray paint lying around, go for it, but these can look just fine au natural. Questions to ask yourself: Is it stable? Does it look good from all viewpoints? (Tip: Triangles and pyramids are much more structurally sound than squares, rectangles, or cubes.)

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