More organic forms

My studio mate Jo lent me this great book by Clayton Ball on building ceramics minus the wheel. It was written in the 1960's which makes it over 40 years old. The aesthetics of those days were quite different: texture was big and chunky organic forms were in. Quite a contrast to the more delicate and symmetrical forms usually made of porcelain and thrown on a wheel.

I love both types of ceramics but without a wheel, Ball's wonderfully gutsy forms certainly captured my imagination. If something was going to be hand-made, it would never be symmetrical so why even try? Embracing the quirks of hand made objects and exaggerating these imperfections in fact, lent the end product an undeniable charm.

As an experiment, I built this vase? sculpture? using newspaper as the stuffing following Ball's instructions faithfully. When texturing the clay, I first used a banksia with it's wonderful curves and indents. However the imprint looked too much like pubic hair and when it got too close to the leg, it all looked too much like male genitalia for comfort!

My hubby thinks it looks like Shrek and Doreen said "Fiona? Is that you? Have you grown an extra ear?"