Fibers and Clay

Today I critiqued my second project in my vessel construction class. My project basically became a series of experiments. I first took five doilies (apparently the ONLY five doilies in Chicago) and let them soak in porcelain slip. (If you aren't familiar with what slip is, it's basically really wet, runny clay. You use it when you make cast objects and it has a bunch of other uses) Then I draped the doilies over some forms. A tennis ball holder, a jar, and some other stuff. They fired to cone 4 and are ridiculously fragile. I met a grad student who is doing something similar, but on a way bigger scale, and she said she mixed a special recipe of slip so that her's would be extra strong. I think she also fires hers to higher temperatures. The higher the temperature you fire it, the stronger it will be. I also mixed these short nylon fibers (it looked like hairy fluff stuff) with a bowl of clay until it was like hairy mud. I spread it thinly over a flat plaster slab and let the plaster draw out some of the moisture. It was kind of like making a paper pulp and making paper, if you've ever tried that. Then I peeled up the pieces of "paper" and shaped them. For my critique I hung the broken pieces of my doilies and some of the smaller fiber shapes on the wall. The vessel on the podium is a dome of the little forms pressed together with a light underneath. The effect was exactly what I wanted. Light, gravity defying, and expressed the honesty of the process. Sometimes things don't work. They break and look wrong. I want to retain honesty in my work. The setting is meant to invoke a feeling of calmness. I was inspired by the settling of sea creatures in the deep sea, where it's very dark. The feeling of bubbles drifting upwards... It's all very magical and simple to me.

I'm working more on the idea and presenting it again at the final critique. I hope I have enough time to finish. Next week I have no school, though, so I think I'll be fine getting everything done. I am constantly busy here and I love it, even if I am exhausted. :]