Sculpting a beetle with a hidden compartment

This video is sponsored by Squarespace. One of my proudest moments in the studio recently was making a functioning hinge out of clay. And after posting that video, I had at least 10 people sending me the work by Marcia Soleri, a Peruvian artist who lives in Orlando who makes these incredible hinged boxes in the shapes of tortoises and beetles. You know I had to try it. So I was debating whether or not to throw this on the wheel or hand build because Marcia, she's making all of these pots like pinch pot style. So pinching, shaping, sculpting, things like that. And I'm not super experienced with pinch pots. Like that's probably the least experienced I have but we're gonna try it because that's how she does it. And I feel like it brings this kind of earthiness to them. So let's try. So I looked up a rhinoceros beetle. We're gonna try and make this beautiful boy right here. I think that would look really cool. So like, I'm trying to like break this down into its parts. There's like sort of like a roundish part and then a head and then, oh gosh. And then like what parts to make hollow and what parts to not hollow out is another question. A little intimidated by this. I feel like like in the end, it's like this very small piece but like to get it to look nice is going to require a lot of finesse basically. I think the move is to just make it imperfect and then we can refine it later by carving it back or whatever but I need to get like the overall curves right. And I think I'm just gonna make two pinch pots and connect them together like this. I think that's what I'm gonna do. The issue that I'm worried about running into is that clay is really, I feel like with this technique you need to use, you need to do the right things at the right level of clay dryness. And right now the clay is quite mushy. So I feel like I really can't do that much today. Like what I need to do is like get the shapes going and then like, it's gonna end up looking like a potato and then we're gonna let it sit overnight and we can refine it from there. I think that's what I wanna do because I can't even blend this in because I'm pushing. I don't wanna push this in too much. I want this to be nice and round. It's a potato but I also feel like that's the shape I want. Never sculpted a bump before, I have to say. Looking like a narwhal. Just don't know if I should hollow this or not. Like it's so thin, but also thick. It's gonna be fine. I'm gonna dry this really slowly and I can candle it if need be. And like, this is gonna look like a potato until tomorrow because I don't, I can't add any of the shell part, any of like the armor part until it's more dry. The one thing that I can do now is start preparing the legs. They're gonna be a little abstracted because gosh, those legs are crazy. Something like this. Something like this with a little bit of note-age. I am having a really hard time like imagining how this is going to look, but I sort of feel like this is all I can do today even though it really looks like nothing because it's just too wet to really change, you know, do the finer details right now. I just, I mostly need to work with this when it's leather hard. So see you tomorrow. Let's take a little break to talk about today's sponsor, Squarespace. Squarespace is an all-in-one website platform for artists and entrepreneurs to stand out online. I've been using Squarespace ever since I started my online business because it has incredibly easy to use features including their drag and drop website builder and integrated SEO tools. Whether you're just starting out or managing a thriving brand, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website to sell anything from physical products to memberships, digital products, and even services. You can also schedule appointments, create on-brand invoices, and send newsletters. And for the artists watching, you will love their cutting edge design tools where you can create a bespoke website that perfectly fits your brand or business. So head to squarespace.com right now for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash Pottery To The People for 10% off your very first website or domain. Let's get back to the video. Good morning. I think I made a mistake wrapping this completely in plastic because it's like not much drier. So I think I'm gonna pop this in front of the fan for a few minutes and see what we can make out of le potato. I did run to the art store this morning and got these teeny tiny little magnets because that's what the original artists use to get the lid to line up properly. These are so fun. They're a millimeter deep and six millimeter wide, I think. Yeah, they're teensy tiny little magnets and strong. So we're gonna use these later. And maybe while I'm waiting for that to dry a little bit, I'm going to work on smoothing these out and shaping them a bit more. I need them to stay a little bit flexible because I need to attach them and then be able to adjust them so they actually like reach the ground. He's like leather hard now, I guess. I don't know really what I'm doing because this is a way of making pottery that I don't have much experience in. But what I was waiting for is basically that I can push against it without the piece collapsing. So now I can smooth out all of these little squigglies, all of these little, you know, making marks so we can start to make this look a bit like a shiny beetle. I think I just need to start, start adding like the thing, the shell thing here. And that's going to add a lot of structure shape, make him look a little bit more like a beetle. This is like the, I just got a flashback. This is like the little guy from Bugs Life. Hold on, Mr. Ant. Amazing. Yeah, there was one of these beetles in Bugs Life. Was there not? Dim, I think his name was. I love that movie. I saw that movie in the theaters when I was a kid and it was like genuinely mind blowing at the time. And like, you have to remember that animation was like not very good at the time. I think it holds up too. I watched it not that long ago. Anyway, like what I'm struggling with is like, there's this crack in his head to neck situation that like I'm trying to define, but I also feel like I don't want to make it look too much like he's got a neck, you know? So I don't really know what to do about that. I think I need to just like, when it's more leather hard and like carvable, I need to just carve in and define it that way. As well as the shell, like the armor stuff, like to make these definitions, like this back part is going to be removed. Like it's going to be cut out. So that will define it here. But how about here? I feel like I just need to carve into him. It's also looking like he's got a bit of a chin, which this guy doesn't have. Oh, I find this so hard, to be honest. He shouldn't have a chin. People who do figure sculpting, like I know this is not a figure, this is a bug, but like same thing, you know? They are crazy. That's better, I think. Should I attach the feet? I feel like once again, there's like not that much I can do today because I need to, once again, wait for it to dry before I can carve out the details. So I feel like this is like a waiting games. This piece, it's a lot of drying in between, or I just don't know what I'm doing. That looks crazy. It's starting to look kind of creepy with the legs. I have to admit. Okay. We have a creepy crawly. No longer a potato. My impulse now is to really, once again, let this dry out because it's not very stable. And I do need to let these legs kind of homogenize before I can smooth them fully out. And I do need to let this back and dry a little bit more before I can cut it. That's going to be the main thing. Oh, I'm realizing I never talked about the hinge. The original artist, she never said this explicitly, but I'm sure she's using nichrome wire because that's the only wire that I understand will survive a kiln. So I do have some nichrome wire. And basically, I'm just going to stick it in when it's still leather hard, so tomorrow, hopefully, and just make a hinge that way. That's way easier than making the hinge out of clay. And I think it looks a lot nicer because it's just like a sleeker look. It's not so bulky. I'm going to get his butt to not look so flat. I feel like it looks good. I feel like it's going to look a lot better after tomorrow, though, when I can start to really define how he looks. Good morning. So today's the day we can theoretically finish this thing up, I'm hoping. So what I want to do today is carve into the piece to add some more dimension. I want to create the detachment here. So create like the box part. So actually cutting into this, this is the part that I'm mostly scared about. And then, okay, maybe even more than scared than that is creating the hinge and sticking it in. Because I feel like that can only be done once. And if you screw that up, I don't know. So let's get started. But let's start with the easiest thing that I'm least scared about is the carving. I hope this is the right one. I want to carve a bunch in here to add dimension, but I also do not want to carve through. That would not be good. So I'm sort of struggling with what to do with the eyes because I'm looking at my picture here and I'm pretty sure his eyes are like up in his nose because I don't know where else they would be. There's some signs of eyes up there. And I just feel like I'm not a huge fan of doing that. And so I had to look to see what Marcia Soleri did and she just puts the eyes where the eyes should go, like up here. And I think I'm gonna do that too because they're just so much cuter. Like I want this to look kind of cute. I don't want it to look super creepy. I want it to look like a cute little friendly bug. And I think putting his eyes in the spot that we would think they should go is going to help with that. So that's what I'm going to do. I don't think that I can procrastinate it anymore. I have to cut this now. I'm gonna use an X-Acto knife. Let's try and get the cleanest cut. And I already sort of carved in where I want to cut. So I guess that will make it easier. I'm not sure. Okay, I'm just gonna go for it. Okay, wow. Getting in there was a little tricky. I need to clean it up a good amount, but yeah, fine. Also, if you're wondering why I haven't taken off these sponges yet, it's because I'm scared. There's a good amount of space in our little box. What I'm amazed is Marcia is able to get everything looking really, really smooth. And I'm like very much struggling with that. It's probably just coming with experience working with this technique, but I don't have that experience nor skill. I think I need to add some extra bulk to these bits for the magnets because it's a little too thin. So I'm just gonna add a little bit of clay. See how I just thickened that up a little bit just in the spot that needs the magnets. I like how that's looking now. I think that's actually looking quite neat. Neater than I thought I would be able to make it, to be honest. I've been having my doubts throughout this. I have to be honest. I've been having my doubts, but I think it's okay. I'm still not totally convinced by his face. I feel like I need to add something up here, but in the picture of the original guy, everything's very smooth. So I think I'm overthinking it is what I'm saying. Now I'm just gonna try and attach the hinge, I think. I think I'm gonna try. Well, I need to make the hinge first. So let's see if we can do that. So this hinge comes in two parts. One is just like a little stick-in and then the other that's fed through that is this wire that's wrapped around something very tightly. And then it has two ends that stick in. Okay, so I've got like a thousand different pliers that I'm gonna need. Okay. So let me just see if I can try to do it. I fear my wire's too thick. Like her hinges are very neat and I fear I'm not going to be able to get that because my wire is so thick and probably also a matter of skills. Okay, got one loop. Let's see if I can get like three. Ooh, that was a good one. Ouch. I've got this crazy little loop-de-loop now. So let me see if I can compress it together. Yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Old college metalsmithing skills coming in right about now. Okay. I feel it's not bad. I feel it could be better though. Like it works as a hinge, right? It's a little wonk. I don't know. Should've probably got some thinner wire. That's what we're working with. I do really wish that these loop-de-loops were even, but I don't actually think that I'm going to be able to do that. Not with this wire. Okay, I just realized something by like way obsessively looking at her pieces. This back bit needs to be pushed in a little bit for the hinge to work or at least to work in a elegant kind of less obvious way. So I'm just going to push it in a little bit and hopefully that's fine. Maybe I add a little bit of clay. Why is this hinge so much harder for me to wrap my brain around than the other one? So I'm just adding a little bit of clay because this part here needs to like dip in so that the hinge is kind of like nestled up in there and then I can stick the other piece straight down. I don't know. I can't even describe it. I can't even explain it, but it makes sense, I think. So let me just get this extra chunk applied. Okay. You see, I've got like an extra chunk. Now I'm just going to take up some clay just enough to fit the hinge itself. So I want that hinge nestled up inside. So we're going to stick him in there as straight as possible. Is that straight? And hope that he's not too deep. I suppose if it pokes out the other side I can just add some more clay on top of it. Come to the part of the video where I'm like struggling to breathe because I'm too stressed. Okay. I mean, it's a little bit at a weird angle but I feel like it should still work. Right. So then the attachment part can go at the bottom because otherwise it would have stuck out in the back and been really kind of awkward. So now I can attach it down here and it can be sort of hidden. I feel more confident about this part. So I just need, I just need a loop now. So I should feel more confident about this part anyway. It should be like 12-ish millimeters wide. We can do this. Now sticking this in. Something about this feeling a little stressy to me. I think I'm just going to lower it down. Into it. Oh my God. Why is this so stressful? I mean, it works. Okay. All I need to do left is make little divots for this guy. I'm just going to use a drill bit. Now I should have done this before I touched this. I need to set this down now. Oh, oh geez. Okay. It's fine. We're going to put it back on in a second. Okay. This has been really stressful and honestly not super fun, but just this last part, just this last part where the hinge, I don't know why that stressed the heck out of me. And yeah, but actually it looks fine, right? I like how tucked away the hinge is. And I mean, I'm not going to try and open it right now, but I think it's going to work. Like it's, there's a lot of flexibility with this type of hinge that I didn't have with the poly pocket hinge. So I feel like, like what could go wrong kind of a thing. I am going to continue to dry this guy on sponges. Should we try to see if he can stand? I mean, I think he can. I hope he can. Ta-da! Okay. That's all we're going to do. We're going to put him back on sponges. I don't trust, I don't trust him to hold his own weight right now. But yeah, now all I'm going to do is let him dry and then we can bisque it. And like this wire can go in the kiln, all the fires, all, it can go in the bisque, it can go in the final fire. So, hee hee. I do think he looks cute. My partner came down like a few minutes ago and he said he looked creepy. I think he looks cute. See you in a few days. Okay, I just bisqued the beetle. I'm worried. I did candle it. So it should not have exploded, but I am worried because it's quite thick, you know. He survived. Thank God, honestly. My dog is barking. Are you barking at me? Okay, we got to glaze this thing. My thought is, I feel like you guys are getting sick of me using this glaze because I use this glaze all the time. I love it so much. It's my matte black glaze, which is Etherset from Biasset. I'm going to use it again because it's perfect for this piece. Like it has to be this glaze. What else would I do, honestly? I think it will look so, so stunning on this. So my issue is that I can't glaze this thing shut. I was thinking, I don't know if this is going to work. I have these little kiln stilts and I was thinking about firing it like, it's kind of crazy, like slightly open like this so that I can at least glaze the entire inside of his like crown thing here. Because I feel like it would just be really weird if there was glaze like halfway down his crown and then it stopped because if I did not prop it up, I would have to have it stop because it would touch the inside of this shell. It's also like, I'm kind of nervous about glazing this because this is like very fragile right now. I don't want to break it. So I'm just going to try my best. So I'm just wiping back anywhere where I think it might stink basically. You know what I should have done is I should have waxed these parts. That's what I should have done, honestly. I do think that this is something of a risk because firing it open and unsupported like, you know, some overhang bits, it could warp. So it's a risk, but I feel like the risk is greater if it's down, it's like this because it could so easily fuse with this. That's what I fear the more than warping because this shell is pretty thick and I think it's less likely to warp because of that. I don't know. I'm worried about this guy now. I was very confident before, but now I'm worried. It is what it is. Let's put him in the kiln. OK, the kiln is ready. I am dying to see how this looks. I'm nervous, as usual. I think I'm happy. I was really thrown by there's a big old crack right here. I don't know if you can see it because of the black glaze. Maybe you can see it. It didn't warp. And that was my main fear. I can overlook the crack. I'm telling you. And I actually really love the glaze. I've never seen it do this. It's looking very pearlescent. Is that a word? Like, I think because of the way I painted it on, because this thing was so hard to paint, I ended up painting it like really thick in certain spots and thinner in other spots. And I kind of love it still being so gentle with this. But I guess it's fine. This is holding. Also, the nichrome wire. I wonder if it had a reaction with the glaze or something. I've never seen it do this. It's kind of like green, which looks really cool. It looks like kind of like a moss green. No idea why that happened. Where are my magnets? OK, let's see. Do the magnets fit is the question. Ooh, they do not. It's like so close. I have this file. I'm wondering if I can just grind away a little bit at the edge. It's like literally like less than a millimeter stopping it. So I believe in us. We can do this. OK, I have ground away so much. I'm not super satisfied with how the magnets sit in them, but I think it's as much as I can do. Like, yeah, it's fine. So I'm going to use this super glue. It's called the strongest glue. It's basically like a super glue, I guess. And that's how I'm going to stick the magnets in. I'm not going to close this now because they'll just, you know, rip each other out. I need to wait for the glue to dry. But hopefully this is turning out really wonderfully. And I'm going to overlay some beautiful footage of a piece when it's fully dry and it just works perfectly. This is what I'm hoping for. Thank you so much to Marcia Saleri for sharing your wonderful work with us. I'm going to link to her work down below in the video description. As always, with this Dear Like an Artist series, this is a tribute to the original artist. I'm not going to be selling any pieces that I make with this Dear Like an Artist series. If you want the Beatle box, go check out the original artist. All right. That's it for me today. I'll see you in the next video. Bye, friends.