Texture ideas please

Meridith: There are so many things with which to make textures---look in the garden--leaves of all sorts, check out your kitchen drawers, look in your jewelry box. I am always looking at earrings, charms to make cute stamps. Roll pine branches on the clay. Plastic mesh bags that onions come in---waffle weave rubber rug mats. I always have my eyes open for objects with which to texture---it's like a game for me. Good luck and have fun. Martha

One of my favorites is corrugated paper. The inside of the little square things that enclose light bulbs is a smaller version of corrugated paper, and I've also found some with curved lines.

Janet

Meridith Davis wrote:

I've used leafs and grass to good effect. Some of that long ornamental grass. Cockle burrs. Used a pine cone. Broken ends of sticks. Wax resist is nice. Paint your pattern with melted wax and use a damp sponge to lightly remove what is not covered. The contrast of the groggy and smooth surfaces is nice. There are just a zillion possibilities. Go wild. Your imagination is the only limiting factor. I think the rice problem is overblown, but with so many other possibilities available, use something else.

Have fun, Raj

Uh oh.... now you've done it Martha....

I'm now looking at everything in this light.... my cats are taking to hiding under the bed. Cat hair pottery? Where are my clippers....

I use samples from discarded wallpaper samples and paper doilies. Of course leaves and grasses also work well. They burn out in the bisque fire. No worries.

Steve in Tampa, FL

Have you tried crochet doilies or anything that has been crocheted makes a nice imprint. I have used lace and it looks really cool. I've used those tiny pastas that's shaped like a tiny teardrop and they worked well. The ones that are about the size of a rice. They just get soft in the wet clay after a while. They will burn out or you can remove them later with a needle tool if they bother you. I've thought of, but haven't done it yet, alphabet pasta. Tree bark is really cool if you can find some that is really textured nicely. I've used clippings from all kinds of weeds or trees in my yard and they look really cool. Well you ought to have some pretty good ideas. I'm sure you will start looking at everything in a different way. Just get a wet clay pad and start pressing different things in it to see how it comes out. Rub it smooth again and try something else till you find some things that you like. Then start pressing them into your made pieces. With foliage you can leave it in to burn out later or you can remove it after it's been impressed. Have fun, Crystal

meridith - you hit on something i work to a sickness! TEXTURE! send me e-mail and i'll send you some JPG files of pots & tools.

i've used saw blades, doillies, lace, toy truck tires (really Knarly Wheels Man!), paint rollers, pasta cutters (wheels), pastry cutters (wheels), cake decorating tools (tupperware and steel versions), rope & twine, pizza cutters (the ones with saw teeth), tools for cement work, wood bark, stones, sand, rice, saw dust.

i started making my own wheels and have versions with thorns, blades, X's and Y's and O's, and zig zags, etc. (easiest understood with JPG pictures).

gather wallpaper tools to get blank rollers. scribe into these rollers or add features to get other results.

it's a sickness! watch out or you'll get the bug! when i see large off road trucks i wounder what i could do with their tires...

see ya

steve

steve graber

there's a crochet pattern called "pineapple" that makes a great impression.

ferns make great natural affects also. kinda like making your own fossils.

springs used to cut a slab off your bag of clay make neat affects.

i think the best result is to apply texture, and stretch the clay from there. if texture is applied to a piece, it looks applied. but if it's STRECTHED after applying it looks like it becomes part of the clay piece.

see ya

steve

steve graber

stretching from the inside is the only way i throw pots. i heard long ago there are two methods, eastern & western. eastern shapes from the inside, western shapes from the outside. eastern styles enable textured pots to be made more easily. i think shaping from the inside also makes for a more natural shape pot as well.

steve

steve graber

This thread is generating some GREAT IDEAS!!

Keep 'em coming!

lol. I was sitting in bed last night and was wondering how I could use the wicker on my bed. It can be a sickness definately.

The leave idea is nice, but sorta bad time of year for that one around here. The leaves in this area are turning and dropping, so most are already too brittle. But I did just notice some flower bulbs that have just started growing that I am will give me some nice texture. They are really long, so I am even thinking on weaving a few of em and seeing how that applies to the clay.

thanks, I will try that. I will be throwing soon also, so rollers like that would work nicely on the wheel.

On the contrast point, I have thought of making a thin clay mixture and painting it on for texture and design.

I hadn't thought about using bark. I might play around with that some and see how that turns out. Thanks

years ago a TV commercial showed their hand lotion used to re-invigorate an old dry leaf. i wonder if that works? old dry leaves look like they have a richer texture. and as they rot out they expose those inner fiber veins. they'd make interesting fossils.

steve

steve graber

yeah they would. Will have to try lotion on one and see if that works.