Adding Stitch to Paper Clay Vessels
Unlike with the paper mache vessels, with paper clay,
you need to have pre-planned for stitching on your vessel. You can make holes after the fact but it isn’t
easy and you definitely run the risk of damaging your vessel – a fine drill bit
will work but you don’t want to do it too close to the edge of your vessel or
too close to other holes. It can take
out more clay than you anticipate on the other side as the drill bit exits so
making the holes while the clay is wet or damp is the best solution.
Piercing holes for a border edging
The edge of your vessel remains a delicate area, so
you will need to manage it with care. As
the clay dries, it can crack. You want
your clay to be a uniform thickness if at all possible. The edge can be the most delicate area when
releasing your vessel from the mold.
When you are making your holes with your awl, make them at least a ¼”
from the edge of the clay and ¼” to 1/3” apart.
Remember to pierce the holes from both sides of the
vessel. If you paint your vessel or varnish it, you may need to use your awl
again to make sure that the holes have not been clogged with paint or
varnish. Spin the awl, or use a drilling
motion –DO NOT PUSH.
Stitching the Edging
Once all the edging holes are complete, it’s time to
do a Blanket/buttonhole stitch around the edge.
I use the term Buttonhole and Blanket stitch interchangeably even though
I believe there is a slight difference between the two.
All knots are on the inside and secured with full
strength PVA, then the tails are trimmed.
I use crochet cotton #10, mainly because I then went on to crochet an
edging into the buttonhole stitch. Perle
cotton, or embroidery floss would work as well if you were not planning to
crochet.
One thing that you can do if you wish is crochet –
that is completely optional. For anyone interested,
this is how I began to do the crochet work on my vessel edging. I used the loops that I created with the
buttonhole stitch as the foundation row for my crochet. I held the tail of the crochet thread along
the edge of the vessel and wove it in as I crocheted along the vessel edge so
that there would not be any loose threads.
You can see all this in the accompanying videos below.
PBV Paper ClayVessels and Crochet part 1 how
to begin
PBV Paper ClayVessels and Crochet part 2 continuing
around the vessel
PBV Paper ClayVessels and Crochet part 3 skipping
stitches, freeform crochet
PBV Paper ClayVessels and Crochet part 4 changing
thread colour, finished vessel
I’ve included some How To Crochet videos if you want
to brush up your skills.
Video
– Beginner’s Single Crochet 6:19 is where the actual crochet stitching starts
Video
– Beginner’s Double Crochet 1:43 is where the actual crochet stitching
starts
If you didn’t wish to crochet, you could use the
buttonhole stitches as link stitches to allow you to couch fibres to the edge
of your vessel. You could take
decorative fibres that might be too thick to stitch through the paper clay and couch
them to the vessel using the legs or loops of the buttonhole stitch as anchor
places to attach the fibres. Additional
touches of PVA could also be used to secure the fibres if necessary.
PBV Adding Cord to Paper Clay Vessel
You could also choose to do a form of needle lace
using the buttonhole stitch as an anchoring stitch for your work. Another
possibility is to do a type of string art stitching using the blanket stitch as
the anchor stitch for the “string”. See
the video example below.
The decoration on the edge is up to you and your
imagination.
PBV Alternate Stitching for Paper Clay Vessel