Creative Forming with Custom Texture

Personalizing Wheel Thrown and Handbuilt Work

Raised in a quilting and sewing family, Amy Sanders pieces together clay in a manner similar to sewing clothing or quilting, and capturing the plastic nature of clay, provides Amy with a natural transition from the sewing machine to the clay studio. Nostalgic, vintage and historic fabrics inspire her surfaces and she sees clay as a canvas — a place to layer imagery, pattern and texture. In this comprehensive 4-disc DVD collection, Amy leads you through her process of developing the tools you need and instructions required to create richly textured handbuilt and thrown pieces that are sure to inspire your own lively creations.

Runtime: Approximately 5 hours — 4 discs

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Purchased downloads are available to download for three days. Video files are compatible with Quicktime Player, Windows Media Player, and most other current video players. They are delivered as zip files containing the video files, and they require a broadband Internet connection to download (at 4 Mbps, this file can take 30–45 minutes to download.). Do not attempt with a dial-up connection.

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Endless possibilities
Amy believes that bisque stamps are the greatest tools to have for adding custom textures and patterns to your work. And the possibilities are endless. Stamps work best on soft slabs when the clay readily accepts impressions, but Amy takes them to a whole new level. She takes the time to walk you through a variety of techniques for making different kinds of stamps to use in different situations. From simple images to complex patterns, you’ll learn how to create your own individual library of designs and textures that will make your work truly unique.

Unique tools
Amy moves beyond the many ways to create bisque stamps and demonstrates how to create texture plates, which are similar to the texture mats you can buy. You’ll also learn about texture stenciling, a way to create low relief graphic patterns and textures over a large surface, as well as texture rollers that are both simple to create and provide an easy way to enhance overall patterns. When you create your own unique tools, you’ll be able to add a personal flair to your won work and even end up with unique pieces that no one else can duplicate.

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Inspiring projects
When you get ready to sew, you select fabric, but the difference here is that you create your own “fabric” for your projects. Using the stamps, rollers, texture plates and stencils you made in the first part, Amy demonstrates how to put it all together through a series of projects. The quilting projects allow for the limitless play of textures during construction not unlike the variety found in quilts. She introduces a seamless forming technique and how to manipulate, carve, add textures, handles, and sprigs to the forms while the clay is anywhere from soft to leather hard.

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About Amy Sanders
The world of fabrics is loaded with rich designs and offers a wealth of inspiration for ceramic artist Amy Sanders. When growing up, one of her favorite times of the year was going to the fabric store with her mom and sisters and picking out a pattern and fabric for a special outfit her for school. She began to sew herself and this eventually provided inspiration for her work in clay. 

Amy received her BA in art and secondary education from Centre College in Danville, KY, where she also worked as an assistant in the clay and drawing studios and served on a professional glass blowing crew. She currently works as a studio artist, teaches adult handbuilding classes at Clayworks Studio and conducts workshops. She completed a large-scale public art piece for the city of Charlotte and her work is exhibited in galleries throughout the United States.

Pottery Making Illustrated July/August 2012

Whew, there is a lot of information here. She [Amy Sanders] is inspired by traditional fabric patterns such as paisleys and floral designs to create the hand-made bisqued clay stamps she uses to texture her work. Further referencing her source of inspiration, she has developed a unique way of quilting with textured slabs to make wall pieces and vases. In the first two discs of this set, Sanders explains how she makes stamps, rollers, and texture plates, and how she uses these to make richly textured slabs and what she refers to as stamp appliques. My students will like the texture plates—they love using textured wallpaper, and making texture plates will be like making their own textured wallpaper. The next two discs show how she uses these slabs, stamps, rollers, and appliques to create several projects. I can’t wait to make some pressed trays using her technique. While much of her work is handbuilt from slabs, she also demonstrates how it is possible to add stamped texture to wheel-thrown work by applying cut out texture appliques, textured slab elements, and by directly stamping the wheel-thrown surface. So I also have techniques to share with some of my students who really want to make everything on the wheel.

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