So today, Christy Keeney came to our first year ceramics studio and gave us a demonstration on how he make his ceramic heads... I wasn't able to document this on my sketchbook with pictures for the printing costs a lot, hence the mass of pictures that I am uploading here to keep the record!
Christy brought this cast himself, it is what he mostly uses when he's making his ceramic heads. While Christy was chatting to us, my tutor rolled out 2 slabs in the slab roller that Christy could use for his cast.
Slap on one of the slabs onto the cast.
Cut off the bits that won't fit into the cast.
Make sure there's no air caught between the cast and the clay by fisting the clay onto it.
Taking the bits that's not needed off..
Adding a bit more where there isn't enough clay on the edge.
Do the same with the other side of the cast
Fixing up the edges..
Using a industrial dryer, dry the clay for a good while so it'll be able to hold its own weight up.
..and the other side as well.
Do some scratching of the clay on the edges where the 2 slabs are going to be stuck on
Put a good amount of slip on one side
Stand up one of the casts,
.
.
and with a bit of help
.
.
The two pieces are stuck together now and in this picture Christy pushes the 2 slabs together on the edges to ensure it won't break apart.
Get a tool..
and fix up the edges a bit before moving onto something else
Put it onto a whirler...
..and harden the clay a bit more before start working on it.
Scratch and slip the top of the head.
Put a big coil on top of it
Smooth it in.
And another coil.
Smooth it in..
Fix up the shape of it a bit by tapping it down with a plank of wood
Add another bit of coil on the side(this is going to be the hair)
To prevent the head from blowing up on him, Christy added a slit on the side.
Add another coil over it
..Every time Christy added a new coil he gave the clay some scratchings and a fair amount of slip..
Fixing up the shape by using a wooden tool.
Draw the outline of the face in.
Looking at us with her face straight up.?
Or with her head tilted..?
Christy went with the tilted head.
Do her mouth
As Christy said, it is good to step back from your piece time and time to check ans see if the proportion is right.
Scratching and putting some slip on the nose line.
Put a little strip of clay on the nose line to give it a bit of depth
Fixing her up with some nostrils..
Shaping her nose..
and some eye making.
Using a wooden tool with a sharp enough edge, draw in her eye balls..
Nice snap shot while Christy stood back and checked the propertion..
Making her some ear. With a bit of clay on the top and drawing in for the bottom.
When my tutor asked Christy if he ever does any hands in his head pieces, Christy's reaction was to make one to play around with before he finished answered my tutors question!
Playing around with the hand and deciding where it'll look nice..
playing
However, at the end Christy decided against using the hand, resulting to it to be neglected on the table..
Close up of the head
side view..
This demonstration took a whole day, and the day flew very quickly for me! Although I have a very bad cough at the moment and couldn't stop coughing like a maniac, this was a very enjoyable experience! Now, Christy is going to stay with us for the whole week and show us help us making our heads. I'd have to say I am quite excited!!
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