Site Sculpture - These pictures take you from the start of the brick-making to the completion of the greenware pyramid, and getting it wrapped with Kaowool to fire. The next page will take you through the firing...Summer 2001 |
The bricks were made of paper clay. The proportions: approximately a bowl (maybe 1/5 of total bulk) of aged paper pulp, made from toilet paper, added to a mixer about half full of reconstituted clay, and as many rice hulls as could be absorbed. Students experimented with ways to make the bricks, and finally found that it worked best to have a soft mix, throw it into the mold with some force, then to level the top with a board. Then they had to cut around each form, and lift it off, leaving the bricks on a board until they were dry enough to handle and turn on their sides. The bricks are variously textured from the boards, the cutting, and the leveling process. No attempt was made to make the bricks uniform as to clay color or form, other than size; the actual constuction took advantage of the variations, giving it a very "rustic" or rough appearance.