Clay Times Back Issues Vol. 4 Issue 14 • Jan/Feb 1998 | Page 14

Creating Life-Sized Figure Sculpture, Part 1

The Difference A Clay Makes
STORY BY C. KELLY LOHR • PHOTOS BY DAVID LOHR

“Have I got something for you,”
I had been told. “It’s a clay like no
other! Low shrinkage—and the color
is fantastic.” The clay came from a
place in France not far from where I
was living in Germany.

large as 1/16”. The most important
aspect of the grog was the shape of
each individual particle, or stone. It
was sharp and jagged, giving extra
strength. The clay cannot be obtained
dry. The heavy grog particles present

That’s how it all started.
I’ve always wanted to work
big—very big—but my first
love of ceramics never seemed
appropriate to the making of
representational life-sized
sculpture. At least not until I
began using that special
French clay.
“You can build anything
with this clay,” the man had
said. I opened the first sack
and everything changed.
I’m not an expert in clay,
but I know that the differences
in clay bodies can make or
break a piece. The clay he
introduced me to fits my
sculptures perfectly. Every
piece I’ve made using this clay
has been successful—in other
words, no cracks, no warps, no
sloughing nor breakage.

GROG CONTENT

▼
14

ABSORPTION
Clay is going to absorb water
after it’s fired. How much water is an
important issue regarding strength
and the future usage of a vessel or sculpture. I wanted my
work to go outside, unglazed.
Too often I had seen outdoor
pieces in a seriously deteriorated state. If the size of a
particle of water is large
enough, it will expand when
frozen to cause breakage or
sloughing. Many outdoor
forms are made from low firing clays which are often
more porous, giving them a
much shorter life. The high
firing stonewares present less
of a problem. The clay I had
found was in truth a stoneware, only it didn’t look like
one. (At four percent, it
absorbs more moisture than
most stonewares, but I was to
discover its strength would
easily make up for it.)

SHRINKAGE

C. Kelly Lohr at wo