Fired Bas Relief

And a paper clay igloo???

A New Head

Actually it's quite an old head - my father's - which I have been working on at home. The advantage is I know the subject well; the disadvantage is that I will spot every imperfection. Anyway here is the progress so far. Getting there slowly I hope!

Bas Relief Ready for Firing

Bas Relief Fixing With Paper Clay

The bas relief has a crack on drying that needs fixing

Degrade some toilet tissue by soaking in water. Other tissue will not degrade as well and will become lumpy

Use Paul's Hamburger method - 2 clay patties and 1 tissue ball

Mix until the paper fibres are indistinguishable from the clay

And here is paper clay. It is very versatile and strong. It should generally be dried out on a plaster slab though before working as it's very sticky

Although for a quick fix like this I just dampened the crack and worked the paper clay in

The 10 Minute Earth Mother

OK so maybe it took a tad more than 10 mins but not more than an hour. While crafting this particular wonder I was thinking about the primitive earth mother figures found in archaeological digs that have been dated from as much as 25,000 years ago.

I will concede that this looks more like a modern plastic doll! I am hoping that the pony-tail will serve to keep its head on the body as it dries out this week!

As the model is quite thick in places, I made holes with a piece of wire through the model to the floor. This makes it far less likely to crack on drying or firing. The small surface holes are thinly covered again afterwards.

Bas Reliefs

Work in Progress: Bas relief of a scene in a dream I had in 2004. Ready for the kiln: a Buddha bas relief made from Shaheen's stamps & clay impression of a printing block

One of Shaheen's latest philosophical tiles!

Rajasthani Printing Blocks

Copies of Rajasthani fabric printing blocks created by filling impressions made in wet clay with plaster. I have then painted the top one.

Clay Reliefs

The clay reliefs made a few weeks back have been glazed in multiple colours although we are generally a bit disappointed with the lack of lustre in the matt finish.

Clay Mask 2

This is how the clay mask that was glazed pre-firing looks after a first firing. As you can see the colours have come through unevenly.
I then added some glazes more conventionally producing this on the second firing, retaining the original effect around the eyes and mouth