Rope Making Detail # 3

What a week I’ve had, highlighted by attending a presentation at the WAG by Peter Rockwell the youngest son of the American iconic artist Norman Rockwell, talking about how his father did his art. Soooo inspiring. I’ll do a report on that anther time.

But, back to our business of finishing the rope element of our sculpture.

Now that we’ve done all the twist lines we need to prep for the final touch which will make the clay look like a rope. First, we wet the rope to soften the surface for this final touch. We take a brush, dip it into water and paint the water onto the clay. Depending on how dry the coil is we may have to do more than one application.

Then, we pick up the special tool you see on the photo above.

A comment about tools for use in working with clay. One thing I have been taught by one of the teachers I respect a lot, Jordan Van Sewell, is that he continually harped on the idea that the tools for working with clay can come from anywhere. We do not, he insisted, need to purchase many of our tools. Often them most valuable ones come from common items around the house. Even things we might be throwing out. For example a piece of plastic may have a surface design on it which can be pressed into the surface of clay for a unique finish. A toy, a broken piece from some forgotten item, whatever can become the ceramic sculptures best friend. In this case, a comb scores big-time in bringing things to a spectacular finish. On half of the teeth on this piece of come I’ve taken out every second tooth and this part has become the tool for “scoring” when attaching two pieces of clay together. This half you see on the photo above has all it’s teeth and will be used to produce finishing touch on the rope.

What I suggest is making the scratch lines a bit slanted on the raised sections of the coil. This suggests the smaller twine twisted to make the larger elements of the rope. It may feel awkward as the comb is sometimes hard to handle in such seemingly small tight areas. Take your time, find the right grip and angles as you go along to get the effect you need. There will be some places you will have to resort to a knife to make the same affect in some of the more difficult places. Basically you work from the back or top of the rope around to the front with short strokes. Then, just like with the carving tools move ahead and work back from the bottom us. You will, as you proceed decide on the pressure and number of strokes needed to get the effect you wish. Wet the rope more if necessary.

When you have done the whole rope, go back and check where more work may be needed, especially in the carving parts making up the twists. Then get a knife and finish up the corners you could not get into with the comb. Be careful to simulate the results of the comb with this tool.

Then, because the comb can be cumbersome, again clean up the nicks you might have made on other parts of the sculpture with your whetted fingers.

Ladies and gentlemen, with that we have finished the rope and the sculpture.

Clean up clay debris on and around your sculpture.

Celebrate the completion of this stage of the project by taking some pictures of the piece.

Now wrap it up again so all the elements of the piece can come to the same level of dampness. This will prevent cracking as the whole sculpture slowly and uniformly dries in the days ahead.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”

Genesis 2:2