No Body’s Home (Ceramics II - Spring 2023)

No Body’s Home

Ceramics, Yarn, Foam Board, Wall Mounting Stickers

Disassembly

Stick Friend!

Enthralled by the intricacy of spaces and how they reflect us as individuals, I was inspired to create No Body’s Home.  All decisions made, ranging from large pieces of furniture to more subdued wall color of the rooms, suggest a mood and personality that transforms the simple space into a home.  Having moved so many times, I am no stranger to arriving in a foreign place and set with the task of transforming it into my own.

 I carefully considered an entire lifetime’s worth of decisions to create a space that looked lived in, ensuring to pay attention to every minute detail to make it seem real.  My goal was to mimic non-ceramic mediums with ceramics, like wood, paint, and brick.  I had an idea in mind when I made the house of who would live in the space, tailoring everything I made to fit a certain persona.  My intention was to leave visual clues for the viewer to formulate their own vision of an inhabitant..

Future Me Thoughts (Fall 2024)

The challenge of making a dollhouse entirely out of ceramics was so appealing to me, however I definitely learned that it was a one time thing.  As much as I loved carving each tiny piece, I learned that objects that majorly consist of straight lines should be made from already straight materials.  My perfectionism was NOT happy with how much sanding and shaving had to be done to achieve these results.  But fortunately for me, being a multi media artist, I have the option of using other materials to meet my needs in the future.  Besides that, the final result has its quirks but that’s what makes it so special.  It’s always important to me to try and learn from every project, especially what not to do!

One of my proudest accomplishments from this project was finishing a dollhouse within such a short time, a feat I’ve never done successfully.  Even going over into the summer made for a relatively short turnaround of six months worth of on and off work.  Overall, I wouldn’t do it again, but I’m glad I did! 

WIP PHOTOS

It was important to me to include all the details of a regular house, including baseboards, window/door frame trims, and all the crucial accessories for each room to be considered “that room.”  For example, the living room had to include a couch, chair, coffee table, and side table in order to be a living room.

I sketched onto the walls to get an idea for windows and door heights based on how small the furniture could get.  I wanted to go small so the house wouldn't be huge, but not so small it was difficult to work on.  The first room definitely had the most measurements to ensure success in the rest of the structure.

Better showcasing the furniture, there was a lot of dry times and waiting to get the careful carving of the tiny shapes.

A closer look at the baseboard and window trims.  So.. much.. sanding...

As I began work on the kitchen I realized the sink height and by extension the window height were tricky, so I created a stick to mimic the general height of the individual who might live here. This allowed me to make sure everything was reachable and at a comfy visual distance.  Stick Friend became the unofficial residence of this house!

I failed to account for shrinkage when working on the kitchen, so it was visibly shorter than the living room.  I fixed this later by moving to backwards to line up the floor and just have a slightly receded front wall.

Flashforward to upstairs!  The only issue with these two rooms was getting the two inner walls to line up, I did a lazy job measuring the first time so they were very warped.  Wanted a fireplace somewhere in the house, decided on the bedroom!

The stairs were quite an involved process, as I had to have the wrap around to reach the second floor. A HUGE pet peeve of mine as a kid was dollhouses that don’t have realistic ways of getting to the next floor (looking at you, stair-less Barbie dream houses. How is she gonna get upstairs with no stairs???), so I had to ensure mine was built to code. However, I made this harder by misplacing the two doors to be on the same side, meaning a wrap around staircase was the only solution. It was a challenge but it ended up working out fine with some careful planning.  

Staircase added to the side of the building.

Lots of sketching required for the accompanying staircase room as well. Had to make sure the window placement was correct! 

I wanted a removable roof for easy installation, and decided on a classic shingles roof.  I made sure there was lots of overhang to account for any unevenness. 

Few extra accessories with the base of the house finished, starting with the bookshelves for the office. I made the outside shelves separate from the back to try and make things as straight as possible… mild success. 

Assortment of various furniture pieces at different stages of firing.

Interior of house empty

Interior furnished!  You may notice some supports between the first and second floor… I thought they would be fine just sitting on top but as I mentioned all my straight lines were “quirky.”  In this instance I used some rulers to try and add support, later replacing them with board cut to size. 

Since I had some extra time, I wanted to complete the nautical location I imagined for the house, so I added a small boat to accompany it!  Modeled so beautifully by stick friend, the measuring stick from earlier that I decided to add a face to and keep <3

Can’t have a boat without a dock!

Time for glazing!  Gathered my favorite glazes in a color palette that matched the vibe and went for it!

   

I tried several different color combinations for the exterior, but was satisfied with any of them.  I wanted a "Cape Cod" look, like a house on the coast of Maine.  I liked my interior color palette, but the exterior needed more thinking.

On my phone I had an idea and drew it out, I knew it would take time but a brick house... it would be too good to pass up!

Looks strange before the firing…

I had just a small handful for accessories I wanted to include to make the house a home, including a globe, furnace/oven, record player, and some flower beds. Stick friend deserves some nicer things in life ;)

The perfect coffin!?

First round of glazing done!  Did some test pieces for the wallpapers and brick exterior as well. 

Everything on the shelves, waiting (featuring David as well!)

Finished boat!  It lacks any functioning parts like engines, steering wheels, and masts, but it looks good so who cares!

Everything glazed!

Everything stilted!!

Small jump, next was everything getting packed up. Although the ceramic part was finished, the additional components and details were yet to come…

First off these darn empty bookshelves!  I thought I’d make solid cardboard inserts and paint them to look like individual books, but I did not care for how that looked at all. Too fake. 

Instead I made individual books and glued them together to fit the shelves. While doing so I made some loose ones to scatter around the room (to be more realistic, cause who puts things away immediately right?)

What's a bed without a spread?  Using what I believe is bandage gauze from my scrap pile, which had the perfect looseness to lay over itself without assistance (miniatures are hard to have convincing weight), I made a blanket.  The mattress is fabric over some cardboard and the pillow was handsewn.

Comfy!

Now the big one!  I felt the house needed somewhere to exist, so using leftover insulation foam board I constructed the starts of an island.  Since it was four pieces skewered together with a heaping helping of glue, I added cardboard on the top and bottom to give it more support.  I let the leftovers form it's shape, using the natural squiggles to my advantage.

I layered more cardboard on top to add some incline to the land, make it more cliff-y.

I then covered the foam in drywall compound, sticking in some "rocks" (chunks of scrap foam) for texture.  I also used chipboard to make stepping stones down to the dock.

Base coat.  I had lots of red and green paint and to my delight the two layered make a fantastic brown!

Armed Stick Friend (measuring a toothpick out for the broom)

I made the grass out of singled out bunches of a variety of embroidery thread.  I attached them by pushing them in with a needle (as the cardboard and foam is still quite soft)

I tried to decide what else to add, like thicker grass patches or snow/slush clusters.  However I decided that I just liked the embroidery thread bunches so I just made more of them and left the brown yellow base to look like early spring.

Ceratyr/David (Ceramics II - Spring 2023)

Ceratyr / David

Ceramics, Brushed Yarn, Wire, Masking Tape, White Glue, Chalk Pastels (dyeing yarn), Mixed Media

David pictured with his predecessor the Lighthouse Keeper

Watch him in motion!

Ceratyr is a ceramic figure exploring the technical concept of articulation and pushing the traditional limitations of ceramic clay.  Articulation is deeply rooted in my interests ever since I was a child playing with my brother’s action figures. These toys could enact any story desired and each joint breathed life into the figures as you moved them through space.  This magical, almost life-like fluidity inspired Ceratyr.

I challenged the ceramic clay traditionally used for more structural work to its limit while sculpting hinges and ball-joints capable of withstanding the strain of movement while still staying true to the form.  Since the movement is so magical, it was natural the figure took on a fantastical appearance.  I wished for the figure to have its focus on functioning movement and lifelikeness rather than its personal features.  I emphasized the functionality over traditional beauty through a rugged angular form and modest fur coverings.  I ensured to include enough flaws to solidify the idea that it is alive but limited the intimacy with a lack of eyes and a neutral expression.  Similar to the action figure inspiration, the final piece has a living presence in the room even as it idly sits but still follows the command of the hands that move it.

Future Me Thoughts (Spring 2024)

I feel with every medium I work with there usually is one "winner," a piece I feel is the best representation of my skill and concepts, and David wins the ceramic category!  He came out better than I imagined, he can move so well and is just incredible to hold (I particularly like the heft that the ceramic gives him).  I mentioned the movement being magical in my write-up and yeah, he is magical!  He was also definitely one of my most complex processes in making all his parts connect, so his WIP section is quite lengthy, but it would be injustice to cut it down too much.

On a final note, it took several months after completing him to give him a proper name (he was finished in late April and I didn't decide on a name until December).  Ceratyr was a good temporary/registered title name, combining Ceramic and Satyr, but it wasn't super personal.  In the end, I decided to change his name to David, both in reference to David Bowie (as I often joke he resembles) but also in how he is my equivalent of Michelangelo's David (a proportionally inaccurate statue that is somehow charismatic enough that people really it).  I'm definitely not saying that my skill is anywhere NEAR Michelangelo, just that the concept is similar enough I got a chuckle out of it.  Plus, a biblical name for a biblical creature just suits him!

WIP PHOTOS

My first attempt actually remained with the whole project!  I used these kiln stilting rods thorough the project to ensure all the holes were the same size and lined up with each other.  Being metal, with a little water they slid in and out easy and can push out the extra clay

The top of the leg is mostly hollow, though the other pieces are solid.  I made him thin enough that most his limbs didn't need to be hollowed out for dry time

The legs are hinge joints that spoon inside each other

I almost immediately began on the body after the legs (which I had to be very careful with as the hingers were very fragile and brittle when dry.  I actually broke them several times throughout my test fits...).  I used references to make sure the human body was somewhat proportionate, though in the end it really isn't (not mathematically, though I think it is aesthetically)

I was stuck between him being a fully ball jointed doll or just go with the hinges (as the legs had to be hinges or else they'd over extend constantly).  In the end I decided against full stringing as the limbs were too small to hollow completely, and the ball made the arms too long (as my legs were too short but I refused to remake them)

Major change stage!  It's strongly recommended NOT to reactivate dried clay to add more as it cracks and can be structurally unsound... but I realized the legs had literally no way of connecting to the body.  So I took the risk and soaked them in water until I was able to mush clay onto there (the changed leg joint on the left).  There was some external cracking once the additions dried but nothing compromising.  I also realized the waist bead was too big so I remade it smaller.  FINALLY I changed the arm so that it was also a hinge joint to match the legs.

I made the other arm to match the first and did hands.  Because of my hatred of duplicating mirrored limbs, I made the hands different.  It helps to add interest and so that he can hold things.

Next the big one... his head!  I had basically given up on perfect portions as his legs were small, torso short, arms too long, and his head too big... but I think it's fine in the end.  Also in between this stage and the last I finally committed to redoing the pelvis to have more detail and better fit the new waist bead, part of what made his torso shorter

Refined his face a bit.  My only real goal was putting a bump on his nose (a trait I find endearing and not used very often elsewhere) and thin lips.  I didn't necessarily want him to be conventionally pretty to make him more believable and interesting as an individual

Before he was fired I made sure to test his range of motion in case I had to whittle down more parts of his body.  In the end I took out quite a bit of his pelvis piece in the back and front

Despite breaking several things previously and knowing full well this thing was super fragile unfired, I did a test stringing anyway!  It worked fine, it's okay!  I was just too excited to see him come together before his final fire

Fired!  From a very weird angle

Testing hair color, I liked the brown so I leaned into that for my glazing

I was quite proud of his head under glazing

Pink/red & brown under glaze (pink and red for his blushing)

Added black to darken it up

Fired again!  I did a test clear glaze on his waist bead to make sure it worked before covering his whole body

The clear glaze unfired is blue which looks very strange (I made many blue man group jokes)

Fresh outta the kiln I had to string him I was so excited!

I masked off where the hair would go to attach it later

The original plan was to make a removeable wig, but I didn't have enough experience to do this new technique in the time I had.  So, later I just reattached the tape mask with some white glue and then glued all the hair to it.  Technically it is removeable in case of emergency but I'd rather not take it off

I got a wire that fit almost all the holes so I could attach the hinges (one knee joint was very unaligned in the final fire so only a twist tie could fit)

I strung him with some temporary yarn to test the joints

The final tie-off!  The back of his head is open to allow me to string the yarn into the hole at the top

Unfortunately the yarn I chose knots in such a way where it stacks on top of itself rather than become bulkier, so I had to insert a bar so the knot wouldn't slip back inside the head

Hair before trimming

Hair after trimming!

I think his haircut looks like a mix between David Bowie from the Labyrinth as the Goblin King and Peter Gabriel during the Supper's Ready live era when he shaved his head badly down the middle and sides (the former inspiring his name)

Back view

I discovered while doing his hair that if positioned in the right way he is capable of sitting up by himself!

You thought we were done?  Not yet!  Next is an over-the-summer project to finish my vision of David having somewhere to sit.  I wanted a throne for him, but not an obvious chair.  So I decided on a tree stump which was inspired by the "living stump" phenomenon for it's interesting shape and lack of foliage

The base is constructed of pink insolation foam board covered with drywall compound (a similar substance to plaster)

Back view

The vines that cover the stump are crafted using the method from the staircase project, folded-over muslin fabric later glued together with a wire on the inside

I made a small handful of these

The final step was assembling the components I gathered to make the base seem full.  These consisted of (left to right): variegated camo yarn for grass; ferns and vine leaves made with the fabric wire combo; fake leaves from flowers bunches painted with acrylic; diorama moss; grass made from single-ply embroidery thread bundles; ribbon cut and painted into thicker grass blades; and then finally more fake leaves painted to match the color scheme