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January 21, 2009

Quilting with Clay: A Handbuilt Soft Slab Ceramic Wall Art Project

by Amy Sanders Read Comments (4)

Working with soft thin slabs, Amy Sanders creates quilt-like wall pieces.

Following yesterday’s convergence in Washington D.C. of people from all walks of life, all races and religions, and President Obama’s reference to our patchwork heritage, we’ll continue with a patchwork theme here at Ceramic Arts Daily. It just so happens that ceramic artist Amy Sanders submitted an article on her patchwork wall art project. Amy’s work, which includes functional pottery as well as decorative wall pieces, has the appearance of soft quilted fabric although it is made of fired clay.

Today Amy, who will be presenting at the upcoming Potters Council workshop, Focus on Function in Cincinnati, Ohio, shares her process with us. - Jennifer Harnetty, editor.
A Handbuilt Ceramic “Quilt”

Begin with a relatively thin slab of fresh clay; if it is really soft, allow it to dry a little to the point that the corner will stand up when bent (this entire process will be done with soft clay with no drying in between). Compress and smooth with a metal rib. Cut out desired shape for the wall piece, a square or rectangle works best, and start small for the first try (about 5″ x 5″ will do). These pieces look nice hung in multiples, so I often create a template out of scrap card stock (old exhibition post cards work nicely) that I can use over and over again. This will become the design inside the border of the piece.

 

Cut the square into sections similar to piecing a quilt. Impress textures in the individual sections with handmade stamps, marks from tools or other items around your studio.

 

Turn sections upside down. To protect the textures, I often lay the clay on a piece of foam. Carefully bend up the edges that will become the inside seams.

 

Pinch together seams (no need to score at this point). Start with the shorter seams first, then connect the longer ones.

 

This article appeared in the March/April 2009 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.

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Bend all outside edges up to prepare for the border. Turn down any
inner seams first. If your clay seems to be getting dry, run a damp
sponge over the edges.

 

Cut out 4 long pieces for a border (they must be long enough to
extend past the inner design on both sides). Turn up border edges and
pinch together. For the last piece of border, bend the long and short
edge that meet the corner and pinch together.

 

Carefully roll one of the border slabs around to meet the ridges of the inside seams. Do this on all four sides.

 

Cut out a slab that extends over half of the border. Wet and score both the border and back of slab.

 

Cut 2 holes into backing slab that will eventually receive a wire for hanging. Attach back and compress carefully with finger.

 

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4 Comments

  1. Brigitta | August 26th, 2009 at 10:44 am

    Hi, I truly love the idea of a clay quilt. Since I have made just a few quilts the concept is a great idea and you can your imagination roam. I’ll have to make one very soon.

  2. Brigitta | August 26th, 2009 at 10:45 am

    Hi, I truly love the idea of a clay quilt. Since I have made just a few quilts the concept is a great idea and you can let your imagination roam. I’ll have to make one very soon.

  3. Berdiemay | October 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 am

    I’m making clay quilts in my ceramic class. This way gives the clay quilts a more realiztic appearance. Thank You for the idea.

  4. Michele | October 8th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

    I saw this technique a FunkE Arts here in Cincinnati, I was ammazed by them. I have been serching for this and here it is. Broavo what a great and novel way to hand build.

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