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Clay impressions.

I have been dreaming about the Dragon eggs. I keep on going back to the dragon post and re-reading all your comments and spinning off into wonderful daydreams. I have a couple of glaze combinations that I want to experiment with that should give me a lovely sparkly green. I am hoping to get the depth and surprise of an Australian opal. But the glaze might be too runny for an oval surface like an egg and might be better suited to the edges of a dead albatross bowl instead.

I start back at the studio this Thursday and I will be doing an awful lot of glaze testing to get the colours and textures of the eggs just so. I will keep you posted with photos of the tests.

I have been thinking a lot about the eggs and I don’t want to say that they are dragon eggs, that will be just between you and me. I want the people that see them and especially the children to make up their own minds.

Last Thursday “The Spouse” and I went down to the river. I had packed half a bag of clay in the car along with my rolling pin and a large board, just in case the fish weren’t biting.It is hard to concentrate on fishing when the ceramic juices are flowing so I rolled out a heap of clay slabs and pressed them into the rocks.

Here they are drying out a bit, so that I could safely transport them home.

Later on that evening I used the slabs of clay to make plaster press moulds.

Here  are the finished press moulds. I have no idea what I am going to do with them yet other than some vague ideas of rolling the dragon eggs over them for some texture.I might press slabs of clay into them and use them as sections of the dead albatross bowls or for texture in a sculptural piece. The possibilities are endless.

I do know one thing for sure though, just looking at them makes me extraordinarily happy.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Veronica February 15, 2010, 9:49 am

    I like them. The slabs look better than I’d imagined somehow.

  • Kristin February 15, 2010, 10:04 am

    If they make you happy that’s a good sign. I like them.

  • Ali February 15, 2010, 10:09 am

    They actually look really cool just in and of themelves. I’m sure you’ll be able to incorporate those textures in all sorts of ways.

  • Jayne February 15, 2010, 10:23 am

    I love those textures, they’re so raw and savage in some aspects, perfect for dragons or anything!

  • Achelois February 15, 2010, 10:48 am

    Looking at them makes me happy too. Do let us know what you do with them in the end. Although particularly the one on the right in the group of three I would be happy to have as a piece of abstract art as a stand alone piece. Will look forward to see the colours combined with the textures in the end results. Thank you for the photo’s. I love photo’s, I guess you know that already!

  • Mrs. Oh February 15, 2010, 11:48 am

    How ingenious!

  • Sharon February 15, 2010, 2:46 pm

    Wonderful. I agree with achelois, they would make amazing stand alone wall hangings. Maybe add some colour, but not too much, just enough to enhance the textures.

  • river February 15, 2010, 3:41 pm

    One of those slabs looks like a fossilised baby dinosaur. They’ll add great texture to the dragon eggs.

  • Avril February 15, 2010, 4:40 pm

    Too clever .. you are !!!

  • Liz S February 16, 2010, 2:00 am

    May your creative inspirations continue to carry you away and make you extraordinarily happy. There is nothing like it to nudge a fellow artist to create more. I thank you for the nudge. 🙂

  • Jessica February 16, 2010, 2:58 am

    OMG LOVE THEM LOVE THEM LOVE THEM!
    They would even be neat just as a series to hang on the wall!

    AGH! We don’t have rocks in Florida!

    Maybe I’ll have to do sand and shells and burn them off.
    hhhhmmmmm.

  • Jientje February 16, 2010, 4:38 am

    It’s good to see your creative juices are flowing again! I LOVE what you’re doing!!

  • Sarah February 16, 2010, 5:39 am

    What you are doing with them right now is irritating me as I try to interpret the structures in them – it’s one of the lesser mentioned occupational hazards of being a geologist 😉 Did you take photos of the original rocks?

  • Linden February 16, 2010, 6:44 am

    These are exciting surfaces Kim! Looking forward to catching up on Thursday….

  • Trace Willans February 16, 2010, 8:50 am

    Have you considered smoke firing the eggs? I am getting wonderful effects with my buttons and beads which I fire to earthenware and then pack in tins with plant materials left after using them for natural dyes and put them in the wood fire.

  • julie February 18, 2010, 2:36 pm

    Those are really cool by themselves, and then you turned them into something else really cool. I love the textures of the first slab. I am anxious to see what you do with them…

  • tiff February 20, 2010, 10:01 am

    Beautiful textures. I think they would make me feel happy too.

  • warriorwitch February 21, 2010, 7:30 am

    hmmmm…inside the mind and the musings of an artist.

    i find this most interesting, a person who runs on instinct.

  • Dawn February 26, 2010, 12:36 pm

    Thank you so much for the idea on making a plaster stamp,I have many foam trays I save for who knows what project and now I have another use.Thanks for the inspiration.Keep bringing it on!

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