Building Uniquely on a Form

I considered moving on to rings today but since we covered that subject so thoroughly in The Polymer Arts Winter 2012 issue (and so many of you are subscribers), I thought we ought to move on to another kind of construction consideration … home decor! This most commonly involves covering objects–vases, bottles, boxes, switchplates, clock faces, etc. Our inclination is to cover the object, keeping within the boundaries and following the shape of the form we’re covering. But why? We work with a material that can create a myriad of visual effects and be built into almost any form we can imagine. Why would we let a pre-formed object dictate so much of what we do with it?

Ariane Freisleben doesn’t actually say she covered an object in the piece below but it certainly looks like it and it beautifully demonstrates the idea of moving beyond a standard shape.

This was created using techniques Ariane learned in a Jeffery Lloyd Dever workshop (but no pods here!) which could have been executed by layering the clay flat on a standard bottle shape. Instead she plays with the edges building them outwards and twisting them away and beyond from the expectation of  straight vertical lines that would have stopped before the neck of the vase. The result is a much more dynamic object with curves in the form that reflect the playful lines decorating the surface of the clay.

If you missed the switchplate we showcased a week ago, that is also another example of breaking out of the boundaries of an object. If you cover objects, have you ever pushed beyond the boundaries of the form and shape?

If you haven’t played with covering objects or would like to learn more including some suggestions for some more unusual objects to cover, don’t miss the covered objects article in the upcoming Summer issue of The Polymer Arts due out second half of May.