Outside Inspiration: Back to the Idea of Clay

Terry-Hogan-3-768x1024This is really not a tutorial but more of an inspiration, hopefully, to look outside our community’s offerings for things we can learn. There are many other craft forms that have tutorials that will teach you skills applicable to polymer.

Papercrafts, scrapbooking, beading, and, of course, ceramics have a lot of learning opportunities. I’m using this week of cool tutorials and tips to just look at something that represents the most basic approach to working the surface of an elastic material–sculptural texture. We have so many color options and additions we can add to our clay that perhaps we skip over this very basic approach when such work could be the very thing to add the energy or impact you are after.

Hand tools on clay have been a staple method of creating in clay craft throughout its history. Really intricate decoration with hand tools can take some time and patience, but it can result in amazing textures and designs. This work in progress and the cups below are decorated primarily with carefully placed impressions added over and over in a pleasingly fluid design by ceramicist Gary Jackson. There’s nothing more here than clay and a hand tool. So simple and beautiful. Does it make you want to go back to basics and just play with the clay for its sculptural qualities alone? I bet this kind of work is extremely meditative and zen-like. I could really use some of that.

gary-jackson-tumbled-mugs

 

But, no sleep for the wicked or, as I say these days, the overworked. I am off to Racine, Wisconsin today for the Polymer 2.0 conference. I will get you one last fun, surprising tutorial tomorrow then next week, I hope to have enough photos to share the thoughts and the art that I’ll be immersed in this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

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1 Comments

  1. Marie on October 17, 2014 at 12:58 pm

    These are wonderful! I love how lively the pattern is even though it is so diligently uniform. I have a set of Tandy leather stamping tools from the 70s that was part of my family’s crafting interests at the time. They’ve been gathering dust in my mom’s craft closet for years so asked if I could have them to use with clay.

    I took them home and got stuck because there were so many and I didn’t know where to start. This post gives me some inspiration to get experimenting.



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