Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Eureka!!

My friend Mark left me a fantastic present in my studio the other day:

Why, you may ask, would a girl be so excited about a plastic table cover (besides the fact that they are breezeproof, of course)? Here's one reason:

And the best part is - they're reusable!! The plastic is thin enough that it adheres to the surface of the clay with a little water but then washes up to be used again (and again, and again!). I have six of the trucks cut out and need to invest some time transferring my other shapes into star covered plastic stencils. Here's a truck bowl using the above truck:

It still required a little clean up after the stencil was removed, but all in all, it worked pretty darn well. Certainly better than paper, that's for sure!

Here are a few follow up photos of my work in progress a little further through the process:

Decoed butter dish

Interior of banana split dish

Outside o' split dish

I've got all this work loaded up in the kiln for a bisque firing tomorrow and then hopefully a glaze firing early next week. I am seriously looking forward to having some finished work...

7 comments:

Joe and Christy said...

great idea! love your decorations, too.

christy

Linda Starr said...

Love that butter dish.

ang design said...

ouch...smokin!!

Ron said...

All these are totally cool. Great work. That cutout itself is a work of art.

Patricia Griffin Ceramics said...

You are in a great groove. All awesome! Look forward to seeing the finished pieces!

Joan Bruneau said...

Hi Kip,
Martina Lantin told me about your blog and vinyl table cloth trick.
So smart! What tool do you use to cut out the image with so much detail?
Thanks, Joan

Kip said...

Joan -- Thanks for looking at my work! To cut out the stencils, I typically tape a drawing of what I want to cut on top of the plastic tablecloth and then use an xacto knife to cut the stencil. I've tried drawing directly on the tablecloth and cutting without the paper, but the plastic tends to move around in the detail areas. The paper lends a good deal of support and allows for some really intricate cut-outs. It also helps to cut the smallest, most delicate areas first and cut the outside edge last. Let me know if you have any other questions! Good luck!