Ruffled & Revealed

Today’s pretty is brought to you by Nihal Erpeden of Istanbul, Turkey. I love the freeform folding and ruffling of the clay but creating it like a pod that is opening to reveal a botanical treasure is what I find really appealing.

Nihal’s professed inspiration comes from Jana Roberts Benzon who spent a lot of time ruffling, crumpling and folding her clay in the early half of this last decade.

Nihal has also posted a tutorial showing how she creates her ruffled form here (English translation … pretty funny actually). See more of her artwork in her Etsy shop as well.

Sage

5 Comments

  1. Ginger Davis Allman on September 27, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    Haha, google translate isn’t quite so good at Turkish, eh? That is funny! But the work is beautiful. And I suspect Nihal has a wonderful sense of humor as well (probably explaining some of the odd translation…use of idioms). I’m a big fan of Jana’s work, too. I’m curious, though, if the form might “wilt” a bit between forming and baking? I guess it depends on the stiffness of your clay.



  2. Sage on September 27, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    Yep, the translations can be hilarious. I need to start collecting the best of them! Btw, the clay would ‘wilt’ in baking without some support. Either polyfil or, my favorite, burying it in baking soda or cornstarch, which also assists in keeping pearls and translucents from yellowing.



  3. Deb Myers on September 27, 2012 at 10:16 pm

    The translation was very funny but oh such beautiful work…about the wilting and the baking soda or cornstarch, I have never heard of this before, doesn’t it stick to the clay in the baking process?



  4. Sage on September 29, 2012 at 1:17 am

    Sure it’ll stick so to speak (not making any impact on the surface of the clay) but since both are water soluble, you just wash it off after it comes out of the oven.



  5. Nihal Erpeden on October 4, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    Hello everyone.
    Thank you for your compliments and for visiting my blog.
    And yes, you’re right, unfortunately google translate can not always correct translation. Most of time, trying to write formal, but sometimes I need to use jokes and idioms. I wish I could write articles in Turkish and English also. But unfortunately, my english is not very good.
    I got some help from “Uncle Google” for this article too. I hope, this time translation is correct . :)))
    Love and greetings to you all from Istanbul.



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