The beauty of a blank canvas is that it holds so much possibility.
Last week I started working on birdhouses. They offer a unique opportunity to work with clay as wood. To start, I make a large slab of clay, roughly 30" x 42". A fresh slab is floppy and doesn't hold its shape. It needs to sit and dry, so I make them late in the day and let them sit overnight. Drying the clay to what potters call leather hard allows the artist to use the clay as wood, carving, cutting, and gluing it. You can even push the clay crumbs away as if it's sawdust.
This is how the bottom of the birdhouse looks. When completed I’ll use threaded brass rod and nut caps to hold the base in place. If rain gets there’s a drainage hole so it can also go out, keeping the birds dry.
Clay shrinks as it drys. That makes the fit of the removable box at the bottom the most significant detail. The birdhouses function because they're easy to clean. I start by building a box within a box. With the clay at the same consistency, the two boxes will shrink in unison. I carefully measure, mark, and cut the rod holes, labeling the back of both sections. When they get separated during construction, and they will, I'll be able to line the holes up again for a perfect fit. The ease of fit make the birdhouses fun to use. At the end of the season, pull the rods out, lift the house off, and hose the debris away. Easy peasy.
Here is the construction of the platform the house will sit on.
With the hard part completed, we can move on to the more creative bit. You always have to start with the end-user in mind. What type of bird do you want to house? Each has specifications that will keep them safe from predators and warm in winter. I'm making bluebird houses.
First, I play with shapes. Folding sheets of paper in half, I either sketch or cut possible profiles. Once I've chosen a design, I start building the house structure. It's another box that's larger with curves or angles but not difficult if the clay is stiff. That goes pretty quickly, and once together, it's best to let it rest. The corners are soft and need to stiffen up to the hardness of the walls. Until that happens, you can't move it without deforming it. After about an hour you can join the house to the base.
Here I’ve started to decorate, adding a small coil to the base and sketching in where the hole will go.
At this point, the real play begins. I like to add my architectural details using super thin slabs of clay, tiny coils, and texture. The possibilities are endless, and occasionally I visit Pinterest for more. Once I feel the house is complete, I add the roof and give it about an hour to set up. At this point, the clay details and corners are moister than the walls. Before I air dry it, I bring all the clay to the same consistency by wrapping it in plastic and waiting three days. Then let it air dry completely.
Once the piece has gone through the kiln for the first or bisque firing, it's no longer fragile. I can sand the rough spots without breakage and prepare the surfaces for glazing. I can also perfect any corners that are a bit off. Once the glazing is complete, it'll go into the kiln again, where the glazes will melt and become their true colors. At the end of the whole process, you'll have an attractive and functional home that will not only add beauty to your yard but will draw nature to you.
I’m having a grand time making these, they’re complicated enough to keep me engaged with enough room for creativity that the ideas keep flowing.