Complete Guide to Paper Clay

Book excerpt: Freeing clay from technical constraints, lightening pieces, modeling large, slender forms . . . These ceramicists’ dreams become reality with paper clay! Complete Guide to Paper Clay thoroughly and accurately introduces this versatile material of clay and fibers, and showcases its distinctive characteristics and advantages. Liliane Tardio-Brise illustrates step by step the reactions of paper clay to the usual techniques of ceramics—pinch building, coils, slabs, wheel throwing, etc. The cellulose fibers in paper clay give it new properties that typical clay cannot attain. Rehydrating paper clay pieces brings back their suppleness and allows them to accept deformations, easily repair cracks, and be built on with new clay pieces. Paper clay lends itself to all finishes, can be air dried and/or fired, and, because the fibers burn off when fired, finished pieces are lighter and can be built taller and still maintain their stability. Explore the many possibilities of paper clay with the ten projects in the book, which each use very different properties of the clay to a variety of effects. Once you see the versatility of paper clay, you’ll be ready to try your own sculptures in this adaptable medium.