Clay Canes

[OffCenter]

There are some interesting forming methods used with polymer clay like Skinner blends and canes. Has anyone here had any luck reducing canes made from real clay?

[Chris Campbell]

I have been working with colored porcelain canes for twenty years. They cannot be reduced and keep their design integrity the way polymer clay does.

 

You can reduce some patterns if you go very slowly but most times it is Impossible to keep the pattern true from end to end. Stripes reduce very well.

I also teach workshops on working with canes so I have seen many people try it ... Sometimes the reduced pattern ends up more interesting than the original, but seldom the same.

[mrs_christopher]

This kind of intrigues me. What are these "canes" you speak of?

[OffCenter]

I have been working with colored porcelain canes for twenty years. They cannot be reduced and keep their design integrity the way polymer clay does.

 

You can reduce some patterns if you go very slowly but most times it is Impossible to keep the pattern true from end to end. Stripes reduce very well.

I also teach workshops on working with canes so I have seen many people try it ... Sometimes the reduced pattern ends up more interesting than the original, but seldom the same.

 

 

Thanks, Chris. I was hoping you would comment.

 

Jim

[OffCenter]

This kind of intrigues me. What are these "canes" you speak of?

 

 

this link will give you a good example: http://www.claysquar...-are-they-made. for somewhat similar work at a much higher level using real clay go to: http://www.ccpottery.com/.

 

jim

[Lucille Oka]

This kind of intrigues me. What are these "canes" you speak of?

 

 

 

If you would like to see the origins of the 'canes' click here- http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Millefiore

[mrs_christopher]

Very neat! That's what I thought it was! Thanks for sharing!!

[Chris Campbell]

Making work with canes large and small gets very addictive.

Some of my "canes" have been 16" across and 24" high. One slice made a plate.

Others are tiny so a group of thirty makes the center of one flower.

I teach mainly to get more potters interested in using the process ... I want to see where new people will go with their ideas. I have barely scratched the surface of what could be done with ingenuity and new technology.

[mrs_christopher]

Making work with canes large and small gets very addictive.

Some of my "canes" have been 16" across and 24" high. One slice made a plate.

Others are tiny so a group of thirty makes the center of one flower.

I teach mainly to get more potters interested in using the process ... I want to see where new people will go with their ideas. I have barely scratched the surface of what could be done with ingenuity and new technology.

 

 

I LOVED your pieces Chris! I think I wrote a blog entry a while back about your dinner ware set! I didn't even notice your tutorials on your site!! So COOL!!

 

Also, I never would have thought to mixed stains with a stand mixer. Absolute Genius! I've always had the worse time with lumps of stain in my clay. ;___;

[AmeriSwede]

Sorry, but call me a tad bit confused here...

 

is this process that you are calling 'caning'... is that not the process referred to as nerikomi/neriage ? Is this just a more recent term (as an English name for the English tongue) of the same technique. I learned this technique back in 1987 (Oregon) with porcelain stained clay bodies as 'nerikomi'.

[OffCenter]

Sorry, but call me a tad bit confused here...

 

is this process that you are calling 'caning'... is that not the process referred to as nerikomi/neriage ? Is this just a more recent term (as an English name for the English tongue) of the same technique. I learned this technique back in 1987 (Oregon) with porcelain stained clay bodies as 'nerikomi'.

 

 

... And I was doing it in the mid-70's. Potters usually call working with stained clays nerikomi, etc., etc. People who work with polymer clay more often talk of canes. I was asking about a forming method used in polymer clay called "reducing". You can make a cane large so that you can get the detail that you want but the amazing thing is that you can then reduce the cane by stretching (rolling it) so that instead of having a 4-inch diameter angel fish cane you have a half-inch angel fish with all the detail of the 4-inch cane. Chris told me that real clay does not reduce.

[Chris Campbell]

Even though I have worked with colored clay canes/murrinis/nerikome/neriage for years I have stopped calling it by any particular name. Mostly because I always get a debate on definition from people who use other terminology and want to educate me on what it is that I am really doing. It's "canes" or murrinis if you have a glass background ... It's nerikome or neriage if you have a Japanese reference point and it's clay loaves if you are coming from polymer.

 

It's kind of like deciding how to pronounce majolica without getting in trouble with your audience.

[AmeriSwede]

O.K. ... I see now... just a matter of semantics.... and in actuality, I do come from the glassblower's realm so I was aware/experienced with the term cane as in the 'murrini cane' just didn't realize it had been used in other media.

Hmmm---- just wondering how does one go about pronouncing the word 'majolica'.

[scoobydoozie]

I use dictionary.com to find pronunciations:

 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/majolica

 

 

ma·jol·i·ca

  AC_FL_RunContent = 0;var interfaceflash = new LEXICOFlashObject ( "http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/d/g/speaker.swf", "speaker", "17", "15", "<a href=\"http://dictionary.reference.com/audio.html/lunaWAV/M00/M0066000\" target=\"_blank\">ɪkə,</FONT> məˈyɒl-/ Show Spelled</SPAN>[muh-jol-i-kuh, muh-yol-] Show IPA</SPAN> noun 1. Italian earthenware covered with an opaque glaze of tin oxide and usually highly decorated. 2. any earthenware having an opaque glaze of tin oxide.

 

There is a speaker button you can click so you can hear it pronounced for you. It pronounces it with a "j" (muh-jol-i-kuh) sound as in "jaw" with an "l" on the end. But dictionary.com also indicates the J can also be pronounced with a "y" sound (muh-yol-i-kuh) as in "ya'll" . I have also heard the J pronounced as an "h" sound (muh-hol-i-kuh) as in "hall". So, it varies widely depending on who you're speaking with. I was taught with the "jawl" sound and continue to pronounce it that way.

[Chris Campbell]

Exactly!! You pronounce it the way you first heard it but at least half the people in the room will make assumptions based on it!

[Guest HerbNorris]

I realize it's late in the day to add to this, but I found this NHK video of Nerikomi artist Dorothy Feibleman, and wanted to try to share it. The link may not work, as this is an "unlisted" video, which is different from normal Youtube vids.

I've always liked Feibleman's work, but I don't think I would get along with her very well. She seems to have the kind of personality that doesn't fit well with mine.

Anyway, it is interesting to see her work, and the work of her kilnmaking friend. What a great kiln they show in his workshop!

Let's see if it works:

 

 

 

Edit - I've just tried it, and it seems to work okay.

[OffCenter]

I realize it's late in the day to add to this, but I found this NHK video of Nerikomi artist Dorothy Feibleman, and wanted to try to share it. The link may not work, as this is an "unlisted" video, which is different from normal Youtube vids.

I've always liked Feibleman's work, but I don't think I would get along with her very well. She seems to have the kind of personality that doesn't fit well with mine.

Anyway, it is interesting to see her work, and the work of her kilnmaking friend. What a great kiln they show in his workshop!

Let's see if it works:

 

 

 

Edit - I've just tried it, and it seems to work okay.

 

 

Thanks Herb. Interesting video even if it was a little too precious for me. I was unfamiliar with her so it made me look for more of her work.

Jim

[Guest HerbNorris]

Someone else who also uses the technique is Thomas Hoadley :

 

http://www.thomashoadley.com/ceramics

[jo4550]

I realize it's late in the day to add to this, but I found this NHK video of Nerikomi artist Dorothy Feibleman, and wanted to try to share it. The link may not work, as this is an "unlisted" video, which is different from normal Youtube vids.

I've always liked Feibleman's work, but I don't think I would get along with her very well. She seems to have the kind of personality that doesn't fit well with mine.

Anyway, it is interesting to see her work, and the work of her kilnmaking friend. What a great kiln they show in his workshop!

Let's see if it works:

 

 

 

Edit - I've just tried it, and it seems to work okay.

 

 

Hi Herb

Here is part 1 of that interview.

 

 

 

Cheers

Johanna

[Guest HerbNorris]

Thank you, Johanna, I had searched for it, but as it is unlisted, I couldn't find it. I'll watch it after I hit "Post" on this post!

 

 

Edit - Well, I just watched Part 1. Just amazing, the command of the materials and the crafts"man"ship (if I may use that word) that she has. The flower petals are simply stunning, they look like glass when they aren't looking real, and I mean that in a good way. Hard to believe that they are clay.

The only thing better would be to see one of her pieces in person!

[OffCenter]

I'd like to see some of her work up close, too... and hold it. From what I could see in the two videos, I like her colorless vessels where she is just working with degrees of translucency better than the pieces with color. Which shocks me to say since the traditional process is all about color.

 

Jim

[Chris Campbell]

I read an article in ceramics art and perception where she talked about tweaking her white clay bodies to the point where they matched so she could do that process ... I would really love to see one up close.