Extruding Clay & Developing Ideas

8 Jan

This session involved learning about the different extruders we have within our ceramic facility at the University. We have a large one which could extrude a whole bag of clay at once or we have a smaller one to create finer extrusions. I personally preferred the smaller one as the extrusions were a lot more workable and could hold their form as the clay was drying.

We had a go on both, extruding different shapes. We let our extrusions dry overnight and by the morning they were almost completely dry!

However, this was a great learning curve for me as I found it extremely enjoyable carving into almost dried clay. You could create some really intricate details and textures.

Whilst we were exploring the use of extrusions, we also had our first project to focus on. The project entailed creating two platters to serve food. However, they had to contradict the traditional domestic-ware ideas such as a plate or bowl etc. We had to push our ideas and create something that wouldn't usually serve food. These both had to be inspired by the natural world and man-made influences, which also showed a contradiction between the two.

Therefore, when we extruded the hexagon shape, I was inspired by this man-made influenced form. When it was leather-hard, I sliced the extrusion down the middle and reattached the halves in an alternate pattern. I thought this would create a great stand for my platter to sit on (as we also had to create two stands for our platters). This influenced me to carry on trialing out some ideas for this project. I began coiling some pots and adding some prominent moss inspired textures on the outside of the vessel. This was inspired by last weeks practical session.

I also had access to some porcelain paper clay so I had a go creating some natural forms. It was a super delicate clay to work with and you can achieve some really fine detailing on the shapes you produce with this clay.

Furthermore, I began looking at some primary research I had collated and started forming some shapes, textures and forms based of those images.

Overall, this week we continued expanding our knowledge but began adapting it to create some of our own ideas!