On 15th of December, I've met up with the ceramic artist, Ms. Samsiah Rahman. Samsiah is a passionate postgraduate student of UiTM ( (University Technology MARA) and she is currently doing her ceramic research in SIRIM (Government-funded R&D company). She also has some experiences in teaching ceramic. Our first meet up was to describe the concept and discussed some technical issues in using ceramic to make the balls. I'd put up 3 questions regarding my technical problems to Samsiah, and she replied with helpful answers:
1. How do I insert the voice mechanism into the sculpture?
Answer: The metal pieces will definitely melt during the firing process. If I'm planning to use rice or bean as the voice maker, I can easily insert them after the firing procedure as there will be a hole under the sculpture, enabling the air to release.
2. How can I control the weight of the sculpture?
Answer: The thickness of the sculpture's wall could be controlled while I'm moulding the shape.
3. Can ceramic be painted?
Answer: Basically ceramic should not be painted to maintain the value of ceramic artwork. Technically, ceramic can be painted using acrylic and protected by coating a layer of clear spray.
I am very fortunate to have Samsiah willing to teach and help me. 2 days after, I went to her faculty and she explained to me the process of making ceramic sculpture.
 |
| Samsiah is giving explanation on the press mould technique. |
The method to form a rounded shape sculpture is press mould. The basic steps are as below:
2. Softly press stoneware clay into the mould.
3. Overturn the mould to remove the clay.
4. Repeat the step and combine both semi-sphere with "clay glue" to form a ball.
To understand the theory was not very difficult. Samsiah later proposed that I should have a working space so that she could give me step by step guidance in detailed. I could do the firing in UiTM workshop or in SIRIM. The largest problem is both suggestions are costly.
UiTM Ceramic Workshop - Working space rental: RM70/ hr
(Suggested to use 6 hours for Samsiah to teach me)
UiTM Firing Workshop - Ceramic firing: RM30/ hr
(Total hours needed are 12 hours)
In summary,
Space Rental: RM70 x 6 = RM420
Firing: RM30 x 12 = RM360
Total: RM780
Nevertheless, ceramic is the best material to form the sculpture due to it's texture and also considering the clarity of the sound created through the collision of the voice maker with the inner wall. As I'm working on a tight budget, after discussing with Alex, I would need to eliminate the idea of using ceramic but to continue exploring with hand-craft paper clay instead.
Samsiah did point out that the cracks on my previous sculpture was probably because the lack of moisture while moulding it. I should have applied a little amount of water on the paper clay. I'm also searching for air dry clay that could avoid from baking. I've found a new type of clay and just need some time to explore with it.
 |
| Air dry clay sold in D'clay (One Utama Shopping Mall) |
No comments:
Post a Comment