[Nfb-krafters-korner] hand building with terra cotta clay

[Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]]

Can you clay users describe how you know what an item looks like before you make it out of clay.  It kind of puzzles me.  If you want to make a leaf, do you go out and pick one and copy it?  If you can not see it on the tree, how can you design it.  How can you carve it out of clay.  Even with plastic camvis, I some times have trouble with shapes.  Transfering a rounded item into a square patern is not easy and still make it look round.  
Even though my sight is not as good as it was when I was a kid, I have designed a Christmas tree, because I know it is wide at the bottom and pointed at the top, to me, like a triangle and the branches go in and out.  With some planning and that consept, I created my own.  How do you create your shapes in clay.  With camvis, stitches can be taken out or you can make a sample, before the final, with all the background.

Terry Powers
 

-----Original Message-----
From: River Woman [mailto:riverwoman at zoominternet.net] 
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 1:15 PM
To: List for blind crafters and artists
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] hand building with terra cotta clay

I use three kinds of clay usually.
Low Fire Terracotta, 104
and white, 105
Mid-fire buff color, 553
All clays can be used for hand building, hand throwing, or wheel throwing. 
The big difference is in the firing temperatures. The low fire will not have the strength that mid-fire, or high-fire will have and the low fire is NOT FOOD SAFE, that is the BIG difference.  You can put food into it for serveing, but you cannot cook in it nor keep food in it for storage.
All take a firing from clay to bisque. The low fire does not need an additional firing and you can finish it with Johnstons Mop and Glow, paint, or stains.
The mid-and high-fire clays can be blazed and fired another time, or two more times depending on the finish you are after. Most of my mid-fire vessels are fired three times due to the deep surfaces I want in my work - and all my work is glazed by compressor and spray gun.

I do fire my low fire things twice usually but not always.

Hoep that helps a little.

Lynda River Woman
I use Standard Ceramics Clays
----- Original Message -----
From: "Diane" <dianefilipe at peoplepc.com>
To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 8:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] hand building with terra cotta clay


>I can Georgia.
> The studio I "play" at uses Red Rock.
> Diane
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Georgia Kitchen" <gakitchen at gfn.org>
> To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 11:36 PM
> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] hand building with terra cotta clay
>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Does anyone know a blind person that uses  terra cotta clay to hand build 
>> objects with??
>> Best,
>> Georgia
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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