Made by Andrea Fleet
Hello Jonni – finding your site has really inspired me to persevere in my endeavours to create bowls and pots that have a slightly more sophisticated finish than the junior school projects that we all loved and still bring such joy to see today. I can’t say that I am any more patient waiting for the pieces to dry!
I find the paper strip method good for small pieces, but for larger ones, it is difficult to get them to dry without warping somewhat. I find your paper clay a revelation and have used variations extensively with much better results, not least of all, a nice smooth finish ! My challenge now is getting pieces off the moulds I use to form them. Balloons are the obvious choice and easy, but where say a vase is used, getting the dried piece that has shrunk tight onto it, off, can be a problem, even when the piece has been liberally coated with vaseline before the paper or paste is applied. A hole left in the base can help as it avoids a vacuum forming and exacerbating the problem!
Thank you for sharing all your experience and advice. It is very generous of you and clearly appreciated by many.
These are some of my ‘lockdown’ projects !
Kind regards
Andrea
Your pots etc. are really beautiful. Your colorful painting really is perfect for them. Great job!
Hi Andrea. Your bowls and vases are beautiful. I have made quite a few myself and have found that for the vases and other moulds I use other than balloons, if you wrap them tightly in cling film first (or saran wrap, I think it’s called in the US), and smooth it as much as possible before applying your first layer of paper strips, your project will release quite easily. Sometimes you may need some tape in order for the wrap to stay as crease free as possible, in this case use sellotape and not masking tape otherwise your paper will stick to the masking tape. Happy bowling!
Hi Linda ! Thank you for that tip, i will certainly give it a try. Just a single layer of cling, or several wraps round ?
Kind regards
Andrea
Hi again Andrea. Just a single wrap should do, the important thing is not to have any air bubbles or gaps and to keep it as smooth as possible if you don’t want any texture showing when you take your project off the mould. You can wrap more than once but you are more likely to get a texture and air bubbles between the layers. Obviously if you do get texture that you don’t want, this can be covered with a few layers of paper strips or paper clay if you are using it. Hope this solves your sticking problem.