Presenting My Nuts

I have a project in mind and want to know if its feasable to use a coil
method but to weave it like a basket. I have over a bushell of pecans
this year and thought they would make nice gifts. I wanted to make
small baskets aproximately the diameter of a soup bowl but twice as
high. My concern is when it shrinks will it crack? Has anybody used a
weaving method with clay? Time really is an issue for me and I'd hate
to spend the time making them to have them fail. I'll have more time
after Christmas but for some reason, most folks want their Christmas
gifts on the holiday... people can be so picky.

You have left it a bit late!! but yes I have woven clay coils, a lot of
patience and time is needed. The best way I have found to do something quick
was to get a cane shape woven thing you like and put cling wrap or a thin
plastic over the object and press onto the clay. I hope this will help you.

Yours in clay Elaine.

"the ''Kroozr''" wrote in message
...
I have a project in mind and want to know if its feasable to use a coil
method but to weave it like a basket. I have over a bushell of pecans
this year and thought they would make nice gifts. I wanted to make
small baskets aproximately the diameter of a soup bowl but twice as
high. My concern is when it shrinks will it crack? Has anybody used a
weaving method with clay? Time really is an issue for me and I'd hate
to spend the time making them to have them fail. I'll have more time
after Christmas but for some reason, most folks want their Christmas
gifts on the holiday... people can be so picky.


I have a basket I have woven from extruded clay. It went much better than I
expected, but it is really fiddly when the clay is still soft enough to
weave. Then you have to be really careful not to make any marks in the
coils. You can also do this with flat, rounded-edged pieces, to get a more
closed basket.

To make an impression of weaving, you can do as Elaine suggests, or you can
also just score the piece alternating horizontal and vertical scores. It
isn't the same, but seeing your time-frame (it has to dry, be fired, glazed
and glaze-fired before the 25th!), I think I would go for this instead of
weaving a "real" basket.

Marianne

The idea of making an impression does seem the fastest way to go, thanks
for that. This first attempt is for family and I'm only going to make a
few. As time is a factor, I'll go the easy way sigh but I like a
challenge. My concern with doing a weave is that the clay has memory
(I've been paying attention here) and that it would be running through
itself in different directions. I was going to roll the clay into slabs
and use a pasta machine to crank it out into strips. I never make pasta
with it and when I was about to toss it out, a bell went off in my head,
which can be real annoying at times and I just hope nobody else heard
it. Inspiration can come from the strangest of places, in this case, my
head. So I figured if I make the frame, onto which I'll do the weave,
leather hard, and use a softer pliable clay for the actual weave, the
assembly shouldn't be too difficult. I have a drying room which will
speed up that process and these are going to be painted, not glazed, so
one firing should do it. Time to make the coffee! I love it, thanks!

~Kroozr

"the ''Kroozr''" wrote in message
...
The idea of making an impression does seem the fastest way to go, thanks
for that. This first attempt is for family and I'm only going to make a
few. As time is a factor, I'll go the easy way sigh but I like a
challenge. My concern with doing a weave is that the clay has memory
(I've been paying attention here) and that it would be running through
itself in different directions. I was going to roll the clay into slabs
and use a pasta machine to crank it out into strips. I never make pasta
with it and when I was about to toss it out, a bell went off in my head,
which can be real annoying at times and I just hope nobody else heard
it. Inspiration can come from the strangest of places, in this case, my
head. So I figured if I make the frame, onto which I'll do the weave,
leather hard, and use a softer pliable clay for the actual weave, the
assembly shouldn't be too difficult. I have a drying room which will
speed up that process and these are going to be painted, not glazed, so
one firing should do it. Time to make the coffee! I love it, thanks!

~Kroozr


I've seen quite a few "woven" pots and it is absolutely possible, I have not
done it myself though. I am pretty sure that you would have to slow the
drying process right down though, so that you do not get cracking breaking
problems and I think perhaps you have run out of time for that for
Christmas. I would go with the impression idea instead if I were you. I
thought I was last minute when I took a Christmas present out of the kiln on
tuesday )

Every time I visit here I learn something new. Such as the mitred
corners for making boxes, brilliant, a bit on the tough side but smart
just the same. I'm by no means an expert of any kind and thoroughly
love learning new things. I have lots of patience, the curiosity of a 5
year old, and tons of guts to try anything. I also have the advantage
of having plenty of tools at my disposal, that gives me a bit more
freedom to improvise. Unlike wood, when it comes to clay, you're
limitted by what the clay will and won't allow you to do. I'm still
learning to find those limitations and to stay within that guideline,
such as proper drying so as to avoid cracking. I'm also creative and so
I think this project calls for a little intellectual creativity, a gift
within a gift. I'll build the baskets and enclose a card with an
invitation for the recipient to come to my shop in a few weeks to fire
'em up in the kiln. This will buy me some time. Makes a special gift
seem even more special. People love to come to the shop to play with
the grown up toys and is always a great reason for a get-together.
Thanks for the wonderful input.
Once last note, I don't know how ya'll do that where you copy posts and
shrink the text in your replies. I'm not on a computor and have to
write all the codes to do tricks like that and although I can cut, copy
and paste, shrinking text is a whole other ball game. So please forgive
me for not being able to do that... yet.

~Kroozr

i've tried this, weaving works best with really wet clay.

an alternate way would be to get some cheap baskets from thrift stores,
and press clay inside the basket. make a bowl in the basket. fire the
whole works & let the cheap baskets burn away.

~ and start sooner next year!

see ya

steve

That is smart, buying you some time.

One thing I forgot to mention is the ends of your weave. I have a project in
one of my books that involves weave, and she finished it off with two wide
bands on each side of the ends, and then a couple of handles also stuck in
the middle of the bands. Made a much nicer finish than my single band on my
woven "basket".

Marianne

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:14:39 -0600, (the ''Kroozr'')
wrote:

I have a project in mind and want to know if its feasable to use a coil
method but to weave it like a basket. I have over a bushell of pecans
this year and thought they would make nice gifts. I wanted to make
small baskets aproximately the diameter of a soup bowl but twice as
high. My concern is when it shrinks will it crack? Has anybody used a
weaving method with clay? Time really is an issue for me and I'd hate
to spend the time making them to have them fail. I'll have more time
after Christmas but for some reason, most folks want their Christmas
gifts on the holiday... people can be so picky.


There was an article on making woven clay baskets
in the May/June 2003 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.
The problem is that you need the uprights to be fairly
strong to allow for all the mechanical loads of the
weaving, so you obviously can't use soft clay there.
In fact, even if you wanted to make the uprights
first and let them stiffen a bit (while laying horizontally)
before weaving, there would still be the issue of holding them upright
while you weave.

The solution in the article was to make a clay base and insert
plastic drinking straws in place of the uprights, then start
weaving around the straws with your soft clay. At some point,
slip was dripped into each straw and thin extrusions were
inserted. I think there was a trade-off as to how much weaving
you could load on to the straws, even after filling with clay, so
this might have required multiple extensions. The straws
burned out in bisque. The author said that the structure
was fairly fragile even after bisque, evidently until glaze "glued"
all the loose weaves to the uprights. Sounds like a project
that would require a LOT of fiddling!

Best regards.


Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

"Bob Masta" wrote in message
...
There was an article on making woven clay baskets
in the May/June 2003 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.
The problem is that you need the uprights to be fairly
strong to allow for all the mechanical loads of the
weaving, so you obviously can't use soft clay there.
In fact, even if you wanted to make the uprights
first and let them stiffen a bit (while laying horizontally)
before weaving, there would still be the issue of holding them upright
while you weave.

The solution in the article was to make a clay base and insert
plastic drinking straws in place of the uprights, then start
weaving around the straws with your soft clay. At some point,
slip was dripped into each straw and thin extrusions were
inserted. I think there was a trade-off as to how much weaving
you could load on to the straws, even after filling with clay, so
this might have required multiple extensions. The straws
burned out in bisque. The author said that the structure
was fairly fragile even after bisque, evidently until glaze "glued"
all the loose weaves to the uprights. Sounds like a project
that would require a LOT of fiddling!


I don't understand why you have to have uprights at all. You have
"downrights", since you weave the basket upside-down - over some kind of
bowl or box covered in newspaper.

Because of the technique, it is better to weave something square, as
something round will easily get gaps in the vertical stripes as it gets
wider. So, at least for the first try, I would go for weaving over a box of
some kind.

For a nice finish, make two wide strips and lay them on either side of the
weave (one inside, one outside) and join them at the top.

Marianne