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Musk Thistle Flower

Small, medium and large triangle clay shapes are used to cultivate this ceramic musk thistle flower.

That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-224 -- More Projects »
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Project by Jess Benjamin from Omaha, Neb.
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As a kid growing up on a farm in rural Nebraska, Jess Benjamin’s main job was to cut down musk thistles, the pervasive weed growing on her farm. Every Saturday she and her brother would spend a couple of hours completing this hated chore. Later in college as a PR major, she took a pottery class and fell in love with the medium. It was then that the image of the musk thistle came back to mind, this time as an object of inspiration; the thing that was once her nemesis had transformed into beautiful pieces of art.

Materials:

clay
- 75 (pounds) fire clay
- 75 OM4 ball clay
- 75 Goldart clay
- 50 30 mesh grog
cement blocks
Lazy Susan turntable
Wook Chung white slip base
- 30 (grams) OM4 ball clay
- 30 EPK kaolin
- 20 flint
- 15 nepheline syenite
- 5 Borax
Mason stain base
- 50 (grams) frit 3134
- 50 Gerstley Borate
Mason stains
- 6244 Deep Sea Green
- 6600 Black
manganese carbonate
silica sand
small basketball mold
fabrication tables
2- and 4-mill plastic
fork
knife
spray water bottle
brushes
buckets
sponges
potter’s wheel
heat lamp

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Figure A
Steps:

1. Pound out six slabs of 8" x 24" x 1/4" clay for the musk thistle flower.

2. Cut apart one slab and place it into the half sphere basketball mold (figure A).

3. Blend the slab pieces together by smoothing the edges with your hand to form the half sphere in the basketball mold. Then flip the mold until the half sphere shape pops out onto the board.

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Figure B
4. Set the slab on the potter’s wheel and dry with a heat lamp.

5. Flip the half sphere and create a flat bottom.

6. Score the half sphere form using a fork (figure B).

Also in this Episode
That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-224
•"Petal to the Metal" Wall Hanging
•"Resurrect Thyself" Mixed Media Story Panel
•Musk Thistle Flower
•Film Reel Lampshade
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