LO3.4 Strengths And Weaknesses Of Clay Artefact

Strengths And Weaknesses Of Clay Artefact In More Detail

When I decided to craft an owl out of clay, I thought it would be quite easy, as long as I kept it relatively 2d, and didn’t try and do anything overly complex. Once I had finished my rough sculpture of an owl, I felt that it wasn’t too hard to complete, and that I could easily do another one, and only need to make it look a bit smoother and more professional looking. I felt proud of the owl I had created, as well as the texture on it’s wings and the grooves I had created for eyes, a nose and other features.

However, after advice from Mrs Kearns to create a snake, I realised that this was probably the best idea, as, even though my owl looked decent enough, it would look more professional to create an animal in 3d, and to do this with an owl would prove rather difficult for me, as I am by no means an expert in clay modelling.

Despite my feelings that a snake would prove one of the easiest 3d animals to sculpture out of clay, my original attempts proved useless. The snakes were hopelessly flimsy, contained no filling at all and were just skeletons of clay.

One of the main problems was that, with no previous experience of crafting artefacts out of clay, I was not quite sure what techniques to use to make my artefact better and easier to create. After asking Mrs Kearns, she advised that I used a newspaper filling as the body, and then used a substance called slip (mixture of water and clay) to help the clay exterior attach better to this.

I decided to keep with the idea of starting off with smaller models, and then moving on a larger snake when I was more confident and had mastered the techniques involved. A further mistake of not making the newspaper filling thick enough caused the snakes to develop cracks, and even snap off in certain sections.

Even if these problems hadn’t occurred, the snakes I had created so far still looked rather ugly and not very well made. The edge seemed rather jagged in places and not very smooth. Part of the problem was that some of the clay I was using was soft, and some more hardened. The softer clay proved easier to craft and looked much better, whereas the more solid clay proved difficult to mould into rounded shapes and stuck out more.

I then decided to identify all my weaknesses and make my next snake much better. I wasn’t keen on ripping out huge chunks of clay and sticking them on as in my previous attempts, as although this got the overcoat done quicker and easier, it promoted problems such as cracks and a bumpy surface later on. I decided to be more inventive in my approach, and for my next small snake, I added the clay exterior in small, better formed scales. This may have taken longer than the other method, but it proved more effective both visually and structurally.

This next snake also proved stronger, as I used a thicker bulk of newspaper tied together with masking tape. Once finished with the whole body covered in clay and significant features such as the eyes and tongue made clear, I observed the snake I had created. It was much better than my previous attempts, stronger and more compact, and, although the texture wasn’t smooth, it was deliberately that way and looked more realistic than previously.

I then repeated this for the larger snake.

When both snakes had been fired, the painting and dabbing processes proved rather easy, and I enjoyed being creative with the shades of lighter and darker colours I varied around the snake’s body. This created an ancient and dirty texture which worked in making the final snakes look weathered, wild and camouflaged.

Patrick Johnson 11S1