When I get an idea for a new creation, my mind is locked into how it will ultimately look, including the size, the shape, the texture, and the color…every detail. Then I begin thinking about how it will be built or “engineered” because there are many details that don’t always “meet the eye.” And this is when I remind myself to “go with the flow” – to remember that I must be as flexible as the clay – and to realize that it will probably change as it is being built.
For instance, when I created WALTZING TO CARNEGIE HALL last year, I wanted the legs to be jointed (arthropod) legs and thought that I would have to make them in 3 sections in order to get the right angles and balance the piano on them. (My husband had been Chairman of Entomology at Michigan State and thus, I have become more aware of all things related to the creepy-crawly world! Insect legs on a piano? Why not?!) So, the legs were made, bisque-fired and glaze-fired in 3 sections, assembled and attached to the separately-made piano with E-6000 Industrial Glue. (It would’ve been impossible in the bisque firing to have the weight of the whole piano on top of angled one-piece legs because pieces going into a bisque firing are just dried clay and verrrrrrrrrry fragile.)
Now I’ve used this same glue many times with complete success, but the angles of the leg joints glued together were just too stressed! How embarrassing that at the end of the opening-night reception, my creation collapsed and shattered into a gazillion pieces!
Back to square one! The piano had been shaped by laying a grand piano-shaped slab of clay over a 6” cylindrical container. Now I realized I needed to match the shape and curvature, top and bottom, of the bottom of the piano. So, I made just the slab over the cylindrical container and bisque-fired it. This was used as a tool to shape the piano above and to shape a base below. Three one-piece legs were attached to the base when it was determined that they would stand firmly balanced. By themselves the legs attached to the base seemed to balance. The piano and the base with one-piece legs were bisque fired separately. Glaze was applied and the piano was placed atop the leg base (after the disastrous glue fiasco, I had decided to glaze pieces together) and placed into the glaze firing. ANOTHER BAD IDEA! Because of the rounded shape between the piano and the base, the top slid off in the glaze load! Because of a half-shelf placed in the kiln for firing other pieces, the sliding piece was caught on the way down and kept from crashing. HURRAH for a small miracle! I was actually able to salvage this prized-possession after some bench-grinder work to remove evidence of the bad decision. Glazed and fired again, the separate pieces were finally and successfully attached with E-6000 Industrial Glue.
However, there was still one problem – the leg balance was not right when the piano was placed on top of the base. Fortunately I had prepared for this possibility by making a small hole in the bottom of each foot into which a small rod could be placed for extension. PERFECT! The front foot now is lifted as if taking a step. This only adds to the illusion of “movement” I had hoped to create. Being open to change is good!
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