In the afternoons and evenings I have been working on these chimney pot replacement pieces. I have really been wracking my brain on the calculations for shrinkage etc. God, I hope this is right! That's alot of work down the drain if I have screwed up my measurements. Anyway, this is one half of the corner piece. I have rolled out a bunch of slabs and then used a pattern I made to cut out the pieces and then joined them together. The putting together is the easy and fun part. You have to score the edges by scratching it with a fork or whatever and then putting a little water or slip on them and pressing it together. Then you come back with a sculpting tool and kinda smear the edges together. That's what has made that pattern in the joints there. Then you go back and smooth clay in the joints to fill it back up flush and pretty it up.
The 2 halves came out real close in size and shape to one another so that was promising. The holes cut in the sides are partly so I can get my hand in there to do the seams inside.
And here it is finished and ready to start drying. I thought it came out pretty well but it's going to be a nerve wracking deal to let it dry and fire slow enough to keep it from cracking. It seems much so bigger than the original but this stuff shrinks alot more than you would think. Or at least, I hope it does! Fortunately, I keep records of the before and after measurements of the other stuff I make so I think I have an accurate idea of the size. Now I've just got to match the color....I tried to post this stuff last night but Blogger was not cooperating and then the Internet here just went down. We were having some hellacious (sp?) storms yesterday and today too. We had golf ball size hail here and it just beat my poor little mums to pieces before I could get them inside the store. Oh well, at least I didn't have stuff coming up in the garden yet.
4 comments:
You are a goddess!
You are so smart.
We only got a little pea-sized hail here, and not too much of it. I coudn't believe Oneonta! Everything looks so shredded.
The shrinkage factor is fascinating. I would never have given that a thought, but it makes sense. The same thing happens doing paper sculpture, and even more so using overbeaten fiber. I'll cross my fingers that you calculated right. X
Oh, Pablo! You make me blush! ;) And not many men can do that, mind you. You and Karen keep in mind that these things are not finished yet though. They may crash and burn still.
Hey Karen! Ya'll are lucky you didn't get the hail; it was rough. I wanted to get a photo of the storm but I had left my camera in the truck and I was NOT going to go get it!
Hey Gin! I have read about some sculptural clays that they say don't shrink but I have never used them. I would like to look into it though. thanks for the crossed fingers, I'll need it!
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