Working with clay

For appreciating the tactile aspects of sculpture nothing works as well as clay. Clay sculpture is easy to do. The easiest source of natural modeling clay is Javier Ceramics at Archbishop Reyes Street. The clay sells for about P25 per kilo. You’ll want to buy four kilos for a first-time effort. This clay is not the best quality clay. But you’d have either to import or buy from Bohol or Dumaguete for better clay. It is best to have a turning table to work on. Professional turning tables are hard to come by but its easy to improvise. You can actually buy the rotating device for “Lazy Susan” tables at Progress across Gaisano South in Colon. A turning table is extremely useful but not absolutely necessary.

The first thing to do is to “condition” the clay. This is done by squeezing or kneading the clay very well until it acquires a dough-like texture that feels good to the hands. The amount of effort placed into this has a lot to do with preventing cracking in the drying and firing process. So squeeze hard and well and many times over. The clay should be formed into medium-sized hot dog shapes and stacked neatly over each other. Newly bought clay comes out more often than not too wet or soft to work on. Stacking the clay this way allows the clay to dry a little bit until it is just hard enough. Exactly how hard it should ideally be is different from person to person and some amount of experience is needed to determine your own personal preference.

The suggested method of working is “coiling.” Reduce the diameter of the hot dog shaped clay by rolling them in between the palm of your hands until they are at least half an inch. The clay is then coiled or rolled into itself for the base. You will want to make something simple at first. A vase, an ugly face mug or even a nude female torso are good starting projects. The shape of the base depends inevitably on what you want to make. On the working table, coil the clay around itself into a disk, to the size that you desire. Notice there is a seam in between the clay coil. Use your fingers to knead these into a smooth flat shape. The next step is to coil the clay upwards starting at the edge of the base. Coil just high enough for your fingers to be able to knead the seams into a smooth shape both inside and outside the clay sculpture. Clay modeling requires always that you figure out what comes next. Thus, if you’re making an “ugly face” you might start by shaping the bottom part already to form the mouth and chin. Then you can work upwards slowly from there.

Don’t bother too much with trying to make anything artistic. Work with the genius of modernist realism. True reality always escapes reality as it appears to us because true reality is always hidden. Pick a person in the office you don’t like for your model of ugly face. This way, if your ugly face mug comes out not looking anything at all like your model, it will all be for the better. But be warned. First timers at making clay faces almost always end up with a self-portrait. This is because your own face is the face you’re most familiar with. In which case, it makes sense to concentrate on your target-model’s facial features. The rule is exaggerate without holding back. Does he or she have a big nose? Make your mug-face extremely big. Big enough so that you begin to laugh just looking at it. It is not frivolous to point this out. Laughter is emotion. And the clearest indication that your “faculty of taste” is working is always emotion. If you feel nice or happy just looking at it, then you’re getting somewhere educating yourself as an artist.

And always be patient with yourself. Nothing is as inevitable with art as that you will get better with time. The best thing about working with clay is that clay is a tactile medium. Before finishing your work you might consider closing your eyes and just feeling with your hands the shape you formed. If it feels good, it probably will look good as well. Because all your senses are interlocked with each other. They never work in isolation.

Do not fail to include this last step if you do not want your project to crack in the drying process. With a length of thin wire, for instance an old guitar string, detach your sculpture from the table. Stretch the string from opposite ends and run it across the base as close to the table as possible. Then nudge the sculpture just a bit to make sure it is now free. You might want to put it over a used plastic sheet to make sure it doesn’t stick again to the table. You will need to dry the work in a cool place away from direct sunlight. If you have a garden spray, spray it all over with a thin coat of water every day. Drying time takes two to three weeks. After which you can take it back to Javier Ceramics for firing. They will require a small fee and there is never a guarantee it will not crack in the kiln. But if you followed instructions well, you will succeed.

Now you have something to bring to bring to the office on Monday. Clay mugs are always nice to put on a desk for holding pencils and stuff. Self-made clay art always beats anything else your office mates can buy at the department store. Imagine the look on their faces when you tell them you made it yourself and all you had to go on was CDN’s Sunday Kinutil.