RLeeQu Posted April 12, 2017 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 This may have been covered before but I'm new here so....... Maybe 6 weeks ago, I was playing with the idea of making a head sculpture. So I wadded up some newspaper, (the adverts section actually) as an armature. After playing for awhile, I got distracted by something, so I put my little project in a plastic bah sprayed a small bit of water on it and put it away and promptly forgot about it. Fast forward 6 weeks...... Today, I found what I thought was a lump of clay with lots of black mold with gray tendrils on it. When I opened the bag the first thing I noticed was the smell...rotten eggs. When I removed this THING from the bag, lo and behold, it was my little project. The thing is, I had been working with a grey clay which was now a deep black all over. Now I know that the inks used in printing newspapers in the past never dried. But I think they have fixed that problem. But I'm wondering if the ink, because it was covered with wet clay, may have bled through the clay in sufficient amount to cover this whole piece. It's not that large about 5" hi, maybe 3-4" wide. Has anyone ever encountered this before? What will happen to the glaze, if I decide to glaze it, when it is fired....probably raku? Will the ink burn off if I don't glaze it? Will it affect the color of the clay when fired? Any other questions I have failed to ask....I'll be grateful if they are answered, if you can think of them for me..... Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted April 12, 2017 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 It's, possibly, just mould from the damp newspaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted April 12, 2017 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 Clay naturally has all kinds of organic matter in it that will happily grow in the environment you describe. It won't hurt your project, and will burn out when you bisque. Yes it's normal. The quantity you describe though makes me wonder if the plastic bag you describe using was a grocery bag of some kind with food crumbs in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted April 12, 2017 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 All clay has mold, and if you leave it covered for weeks it'll grow fuzzy mold all over it. The newspaper is what made your mold particularly nasty. It's starting to break down because of the moisture, and the mold is going crazy feeding on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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