Materials and Techniques

I have been consistently surprised by the scope of the information available on the Internet.
In that spirit I have scattered these crumbs here which you might find useful…..

 Click on the image above to view one of the large pieces in process

I choose clay to be the raw visceral material for my work, because its roots are wrapped around my past.  I have always linked the materiality of flesh and the memory of it with clay.  It has an incredible sensitivity to touch.  Not only is the inert nature of the material alluring with its ties to the primitive and raw, but its voice spans a wide range of sensual, violent, and careless textural possibilities.  It is intimately tied to our natural surroundings, cultural history, and a direct record of my physical presence.  Every intimacy with the material is preserved.

The larger pieces I create take four to five weeks to complete: sculpting, hollowing out, piecing back together, re-surfacing, drying, bisquing, applying surface, re-firing, and creating supporting elements. Given the nature of the clay, these pieces involve a tremendous amount of effort, requiring roughly 800 to1,000 lbs of wet clay each to rough in and  then take several weeks to hollow out.  (see images of the Cornered Rabbit, Spanish Feral Meat Goats, Reclining Rabbit, Falling Boar, and  the White Rabbit).  In order to move the mass around, I use my whole body: striking it with chunks of wood, digging into the surface with the palms of my hands and my nails, carving away 20 pound pieces with wire, and slamming it back onto the surface.  This massing in has to be done quickly, and it wears me out.  I work in cycles with pieces like this - pounding away for 20 minutes, and then sitting quietly and looking, making small touches.  I was unable to lift the largest sections of these pieces by myself, and required a team of people to help lift them back onto one another as the sculpture was reassembled. 

            By the time I successfully bring a piece to it’s final stages, I have spent approximately 1/8 of my time creating the form, and the remaining 7/8 of the time preserving it.  It is a strange process.  As I am hollowing the sculpture, piece by piece, that empty space inside becomes one of the most intense focal points for my thoughts about the conceptual image, as well as my relationship with them.  I gain a secret satisfaction from all this weight loss.  I follow each curve and mark in the reverse, thinking about their meaning, and rereading my visual notes.  I like to hum into these dark closed interiors, listening to and feeling the deep vibrant magnification of my voice distorted in answer. I think about closing myself in, slipping them on like skins.  I imagine being enfolded within a wild hare, ears laid back, body tensed… watching.   

          

Clay:     I was once told that ‘one should be able to roll a sculpture down a hill, and if anything fell off, it shouldn’t have been there in the first place.’ Although I don't quite subscribe to that philosophy, the durability of my finished work has always been one of my primary concerns. For this reason, I have chosen high refractory bodies based on their ability to withstand high thermal shock, versatility, and wet building strength. Currently I am using a mixture of Soldate from Aardvark Clay and Supplies, though I have heavily relied on my own Raku clay recipe in the past. I also use cone 6 porcelain mixed  with lots of Mason stain, fired to cone 10, for my small studies, depending entirely on the peculiarities of each piece.

Terra Sigillata and Vitreous Slips:     Most of the time, I am searching for surfaces that emulate the texture of wet clay or bare skin.  The vitality and subtlety of terra sigillata and vitreous slips are perfect in this regard for my figurative sculpture. The surfaces give the appearance of being pliable, moist, and vulnerable.  I start with an OM4 clay for the terra sigillata and a heavy amount of Mason stain.  I apply both the vitreous slip and the terra sigillata to bisque, since the textured surfaces are too fragile for handling when bone dry.  This makes for a a slightly less durable bond between the sculpture and the surface, so I usually bisque low (cone 09), apply the slip in thin layers, burnish, and fire slightly over vitrifying temperatures.

Plaster:    I have had quite a bit of experience with different mold-making and casting techniques, and I use different aspects of this process in many of my pieces. For strength, I always use hydrostone for intimate casts from rubber molds and mother shells.  For press molds, slip cast molds, and experimentation I usually resort to pottery plaster.  The tile series, for instance,  were limited editions of 22 which I pressed from hydrostone plaster molds.  Although less absorbent than potter plaster, I have found that the hydrostone holds up better to all the stress from pounding and pressing.  A great book for learning all about press molds and tiles in general is Frank Giorgioni's Handmade Tiles.

Mixed Rubber:     Currently, I order a two-part mixture from Polytek (610-559-8620) which has a very short shelf life but is fairly easy to work with.  I decided to try out their Polygel Mixture on my most recent piece, The Black Rhinoceros, and was really impressed with how easy it was to brush on the skin coats.  I followed this up with their two-part brushable plastic for the mother shell, and the end result was a strong, very lightweight mold.  Highly recommended.

Kilns:     For the past three years, I have been able to make my work in places with impressive facilities.  At Ohio State University, there were several kilns, all indoors, which allowed for very large work.  I was able to assemble a few of the most awkward pieces right inside the kiln, allowing them to dry safely without having to be moved or gotten through small doors.  These were all gas kilns, and although I bow to the expert intuitive firing techniques of many other ceramic artists, I relied *heavily* on a digital Fluke pyrometer to get me through the initial heating stages up to quartz.  With my insane method of building, I need to be very exact with the drying and bisque firing conditions.  I have found that a slow drying period (two to six weeks) and a  three or four day firing schedule accommodate this method of building with a minimum of complications.   

     Whenever possible, I load the sculpture into the kiln before it is bone dry.  This allows me to create far more lightweight and complicated forms without worrying about breakage, and I am also able to handle any damage while the clay is in a receptive state.  This is much easier in my own studio with smaller pieces than in a large community environment.  I have run into a problem recently, here at the Archie Bray Foundation, of the kilns being outdoors. With the temperature dropping below freezing on a regular basis for a good portion of the year, I will have to come up with other solutions to the challenges of loading large work.  

Saggar Firing, Smoking, and Raku:    These techniques figured prominently into my past bodies of work, and although I am no longer using them, I still find the process intriguing. The seduction of all three of these techniques is also what a lot of people find the most elusive: Unpredictability. These are some quick resource you might find useful if you are interested in pursuing it:

Sawdust Firing - a book which covers a few of the basic techniques for smoking and pit firing
potters.org - resource site for potters, ceramic artists and clay sculptors
CeramicsWeb
Making Marks with Marigolds notes
Russel Fouts- Mes Potes et Mes Pots

Casting and mold-making:     Most of my knowledge concerning these processes comes from my experience working with other artists.  At OSU, I  had the chance to study with Steven Thurston, and discovered just how little I actually knew about molds.  Previously, I had found Lanteri’s Modeling and sculpting the Human Figure helpful in step by step instruction and there is also nice website with photographs detailing the mold making process:   Cementex Mold Making

However, every mold making process has its own variations and complications:  press molds for carved relief, piece molds for slip casting, waste molds, Jeltrate molds for life-casting, rubber molds for waxes, plastics and a number of other castables.  If you have any specific questions about any of these, send me an email, and I will be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

Home