06-10-03: Post Inro Demo Thanks and Thoughts
I got so excited about the foil
trick with the 3 Inro boxes in Demo yesterday I stayed up until 4am putting
the logs and the screen shots that I did know about on the site. These Inro
boxes I did yesterday still need tubes on the side to run cord through so
they can hang. Or I might just do some sanding and finishing, repair where
the Gold and Crimson cracked, do some embellishments on them and just have
them as desk top or table top items.
Jackie: I realize now that you
have those 24 pictures and the second link worked. I'll add that album to
the Inro Demo page, but it works in the log just fine, and thanks
for taking screen shots.
JudithK: I know you have some
screen shots as well. Let us know when they are ready to view and I'll add
them as well to the Inro page. Even if they might be steps that are repeated
I'm curious which Inro box you got shots of. The Basic Basket Weave box
doesn't have its own screen shots, so if you got some of those shots it
would be nice to have. Thanks again for taking screen shots.
BonsaiKathy and SharonV, your
screen shots are on the Inro Demo page and in the Logs as well for reference
for the log readers. Thank you both and thank you both for sending me logs.
I think I got everything.
Now everyone who attended the
very long Demo of yesterday, and there were a bunch of folks in and out
yesterday, when you give this technique an effort it doesn't have to be an
Inro box or anything Asian. You can make stacking, interlocking boxes with
lids that fit in any sort of design or configuration you want. If you start
now you could have something for Father's Day, make the outer surround sheet
some manly design, or in colors that will match your Father's dresser or
desk top and there ya go. A place to store push pins, paper clips and other
odds and ends for Dad.
Since I do have a lot of that
Malachite left over I want to do one with that cane. Since we know how to do
Faux Gem mixes we can have some lovely stacking boxes. They can be more than
squashed toilet paper roller oval, as I used yesterday, your stacking boxes
can be star shaped, heart shaped, anything you want.
My intention for yesterday was
to explore this clay problem of having lids that stay put on vessels. Having
over lap between stacked compartments. Doing that and not having to spend
all week fussing with it. I got three of these multi sectioned stacked
compartment thingies done yesterday. I want you not to think of Inro, as
such, that was just my starting out inspiration point to the engineering
problem. I want you to think of utilizing the foil and a bit of masking tape
as part of your construction tools.
Of the sites I visited that had
these hanging vessels, Inro inspired pieces, all of them have only one
compartment and they are small, like pendants. This is nice and good and all
that. Traditional Inro have many compartments. None of the sites I visited
had tutorials on how to get the interlocking effect, where part of one
section fits inside the other snugly. I do believe with the experimentation
that we did yesterday we came up with an Easy Breezy technique. I say WE
because it was a group effort with suggestions coming in from everyone.
Special thanks to Jackie for giving me a couple of great nudges when I
hadn't thought much further than what I was doing at that moment. So I do
feel these techniques that are explored in Demo are a group effort and what
a great group of claymates I have. So it ain't like work, these Demos, it's
more like brain storming with friends.
I'll be doing more of these,
refining the technique. I have to get digi pix of the placing of the foil
and masking tape on the bottoms of sections before putting on the surround
sheet and I think it will help folks who want to take this technique and do
something of their own with it.
I keep on thinking this frees us
up from buying paper mache boxes to cover with clay. We can make our
own totally clay boxes and have stacking compartments that fit snugly.
Now remember yesterday I didn't
do any sanding or carving, before putting on the foil one could do some
sanding or carving to make the sides more uniform. After putting on the
surround sheet one could do some sanding and such all before adding on tubes
to run cord through. What I have up on the Inro Demo page are "as
is". You can see the dust from the baby powder I used liberally to
ease the toilet paper roller in and out of the tubes as they were being
made. You can see the cracks in the old sheet of Gold and Crimson and
there's various nicks and uneven cuts. If I were not in demo I'd have
spent some time smoothing and sanding things and getting them more smooth,
warming the old sheets of pressed cane slices, and all that before moving
forward. So what I have are the rough drafts of a technique and I am
not sweating any of the imperfections because it was the technique we were
wanting to replicate. An experiment that works once is an accident. An
experiment that can be repeated becomes a technique. All who attended the
birth of this technique are clay midwives to the event. I couldn't have done
it without you...well I could have, but I would have been lonely and more
bummed when I broke stuff in the making. LOL
So after putting in 17 hours
towards this technique, starting at 9am to do the first tute and ending
at 4am with gathering the logs and screen shots I slept most of today. James
stayed up to keep me company while I was doing post Demo webwork and that
was nice, so we had a day of vampire hours. I had fun and am still excited
about this new technique and I'm looking forward to seeing what all y'all
are going to do with it using your own colors and cane designs.
Think animal print, stacking
boxes. Dig it... not everyone who wears jewelry wears as many beads as we
can make. Not everyone wears jewelry. Not everyone is into minis and doll
house stuff. Not everyone has an immediate appreciation for clay covered
eggs. But EVERYONE and I do mean EVERYONE has bits and bobs of little junk
stuff rolling around in junk drawers or cluttering up their desks, these
stacking boxes, done in ANY size are right useful. You could even put on the
outside of the section the type of thing that's inside that compartment...
stick a couple of paper clips on the outside of a section and folk will know
where to look for them or know where to put them when they got a few lying
loose. Think of making initials with bobbi pins on one section, twisted clay
hair ties on another section, false eyelashes on another. One can get
playful with this.
Also dig it... what say we make
stacking interlocking boxes that are as big as a cake box? As big as a
turkey roasting pan? What say we look at these stackable clay boxes like big
leggos? We have old file folders we can cut down for forms. We have staples
we can do a glueless crimp in cardstock. We can build clay on both sides of
any form. Now we know how to put a good lid on it, add compartments that
don't shift around.
Dig it, if you did a mess of pie
shaped stacking compartments you could build yourself a wheel of storage,
put it on a turn table and just go nuts. With interlocking and stacking
elements you're not limited to the size of your oven, the ultimate size most
of us have. We could build a full sized clay igloo and each block be
compartments.
Or we could have a cocktail
party of micro mini people in one of the compartments we did in demo
yesterday.
The trick is, we got snug fit,
we can stack and build...something, size is no limit because we're going in
sections.
Toss out thoughts of boxes and
geometric shaped things. Instead of stars, squares, hearts, or hex shaped
stacking boxes think elemental... Fire, Water, Wind... change the shape of
the thing from a tube to a trapeeze artist swinging off of your neck, pull
his head off and pull out a smoke, stick his head back on him and lift up
his waist and get your strike anywhere matches, strike match on his behind
where you built in 220 wet/dry sandpaper.
The trick of the day is the
interlocking section foil technique, with that you could do more than Inro,
free your mind.
LOL
xoxo
NJ
Life is like a lump of clay,
both are what you make of it.