Part 1: Ceramic Fireplace (Architectural Design)

In this video we will teach you how to create a ceramic fireplace. First we will show you how to build a facade which is the front of the fireplace and attach a mantle. First thing we're going to do is we're going to wedge the clay so you can get all the air bubbles out. When you're wedging the clay you want to press the clay down and then rotate it and then continue to press and rotate press and rotate to get all the air out. Then you'll take your wooden rails place one on each side like train tracks and you want to make sure they're placed far enough apart that your facade template can fit between them. And then you can place your clay down between the wooden rails and you'll begin to roll out the clay. You want to roll this out until your rolling pin hits the rails almost like a train on the train tracks. Once you're sure that your rolling pin is hitting the rails as you roll you can stop rolling because that means that the clay is the same thickness throughout. All right that's good I'm going to put this back on. I'm going to trace this exactly. And as soon as you finish cutting out your facade using the facade template then you'll take the mantle template and cut out a mantle. You may or may not need to roll out additional clay for your mantle depending on how much you rolled out for your facade. So now I'm going to add the mantle to my fireplace. This is the top part and to do that to attach the top I'm going to score the edge. Scoring is when you scratch the clay. So I'm just going to do some crisscrosses and then on my mantle I'm going to do the same thing and this is going to be like velcro and hold everything together. But once you score it then I need to slip it. Slip is just clay and water. I'm going to stir it up and there's going to be like glue that's going to hold them together. So you need to score, slip and then you're going to stick it. So I'm going to add the slip just to one side and then I'm going to lay it down flat and put the mantle on. Stick it in place. Now just to make it look a little bit more interesting, give it some weight, I'm going to add a coil underneath here. Now you don't have to do this, just an option. Take a little ball of clay, roll it out using the palm of your hand. Try to use your fingers and you get a flat tire. So this should be your view from sixth grade or even elementary school. So now I'm going to score and then I'm going to slip it and then I'm going to stick it. I'll push it in there and that just gives it a nice little decoration, gives it some weight. Now I'll clean that up later but that's in place. So now the next step and today we're just working on the facade. The next step I'm going to do is I'm going to cut the opening for my fireplace. Now we've all seen a fireplace and usually the opening looks like this. Now that looks pretty boring. We want to do fireplaces that are unusual that nobody's seen before. So as you can see I can draw in there and erase it if I don't like that. So I'm going to look at one of my cards and I think maybe should I do a little Art Nouveau? Something that's a little bit more asymmetrical. Something maybe stone-like that I've seen. Prairie style. Victorian. Art Deco. Neoclassical. Gothic. Well that could be a good opening. I think I'm going to do a gothic opening. So I'm going to now maybe use my needle tool. I'm going to draw gothic pointy opening. Now I can kind of I can draw it first and then cut it out. So play around with different shapes. It could be shaped like a flower. It could be a star. But do something besides a rectangle. Now one of the requirements is you have to build up some elements that rise from the surface. You need some bas-relief. So I think I'm going to add some Art Nouveau vines. You can carve into the clay using a needle tool or you can also draw on the clay and then carve shapes out of other slabs of clay to then add on for bas-relief. I'm actually going to score this. And again you're welcome to use your phone. You can use those handouts to look for ideas of elements for all of these architecture styles. All right so now I'm gonna add a little slip. Score my vine. So now I have a little bas-relief action. I have elements raising up from the surface. One thing else I might want to do if this is gothic maybe I want something that looks like a stained glass window. To create the look of a stained glass window Mr. Teal is taking the wooden rail and pressing it into the clay. Be creative and look around. Anything that could be pressed into the clay can be pressed into the clay. Use shapes and items that are around you to make the kinds of marks in the shapes and forms that you'd like. Here's another great example. This one was recorded using time lapse so you can see a lot created very quickly. Okay make sure your name is on your ziploc bag. You're gonna take your facade and put your name on the back of that just in case. Then place your project on your foam core or cardboard sheet. Put it in your ziploc bag. Make sure your name's on the top and make sure you zip up the bag. Double check that your bag is zipped and that all the air has been squeezed out of your bag. Follow directions to place your project where your teacher tells you and it'll be ready for you next class. Here's a more finished example just so that you can see where we'll be heading. Enjoy working on your ceramic fireplace.