Texture Research

Different ways to create texture!


Horse Hair Pottery
Rob Drexel, n/a (ceramic, cactus, leather, horse hair)

Residue from horse hair being applied to a hot vase

Horse hair working wonderfully to bring attention to the gradient

Horse hair layered on the inside and out of a bowl

 Horse hair pottery designs occur when horse hair is applied to heated wares, at which point it burns and leaves nothing but the smoke patterns and carbon trails behind. I love the sporadic and uncontrollable nature of the black designs that the horse hair leaves – I’m quite a fan of elements that you aren’t in control of. While I do not believe that such wondrous trails will last on the surface of fused glass - unless perhaps caught in between two layers - I did conceive of a way to sort of mimic this affect when I was trying to figure out how it was done. Namely, dip your hair in enamels and then drop it on or run it across your work. It won't be so spontaneously squiggly as the original, but it will help you apply fine, slightly sporadic designs!

Rock Molds
Rock Molds, 2012 (concrete, stamp)

The best close up I could find

Rock Molds appears to be a company which sells a variation of press-on plastic molds that you apply to concrete in order to create fake flagstones. I would wager money that their molds are taken from real stones, and I like the idea that with the texture of a few stones they can recreate an endless amount of stones! You can choose your shape, your color, your mixture of textures, it's just wonderful. The realistic nature of these large stones does, however, depend on how much thought the artist puts into the placement of the different stamps (some look rather gaudy to me). This will be great for creating landscapes in the future, as well as for my friend that was just recently questioning whether to incorporate real rocks into a piece or to create her own, and finally, this concept will satisfy my mother, who is always bothering me for glass rocks and glass beach stones. Of course, I'd want to devise a way that a rock textured piece would be cost-effective, especially if I was only slumping stones for my mother. I do think that applying a heavy rock texture to a bowl (a clear one and an opaque one) would turn out just wonderfully. Perhaps a patte-de-verre?

Rhubarb Leaf Silicone Mold

Buddyfly, August 8, 2004 (rhubarb leaf, cement, silicone) 

Silicone rhubarb leaf

Flat cement rhubarb leaf stones

Shapely cement rhubarb leaf birdbath

 In one process it appears large rhubarb leaves are pressed lightly into cement to create flat and even stepping stones. In another process they pressed the leaf into a POP mold (cannot figure out what that means), and then created a silicone mold from that. Due to the fact that the POP mold is the positive of the final image, and the silicone is the appropriate negative, I can’t understand how the artist would use the POP to create a flat stepping stone. It appears that with the silicone mold he was able to create shapely cement stones that are useable as birdbaths and stand alone decorations. The slightly indented cement casts, coupled with the ruffled texture that lines them, makes the rhubarb leaves look like they were meant to be made into birdbaths and art. I think this idea works very well in the garden, it’s great that it’s weatherproof, and I love how easy it is to accomplish. I suppose that means that if I pushed a large rhubarb leaf into plaster and slumped glass over it I would create a shapely glass plate, candy dish or decoration. Orange, red and yellow leaves of all sizes would be wonderful for Autumn / Halloween production pieces! Green would be great for spring, possibly Easter?


Leaf Stamps
Carol R. Eaton, July 11, 2011 (fabric, fabric paint/silk screen ink, leaves)

Print from leaf coated in green ink

Leaves are painted in fabric friendly paint or ink and then pressed onto fabric. This would be perfectly applicable with enamels! It would provide such an easy way to quickly create similar but customized designs on slumped plates and bowls! It could also be used to bring new life and design to plain gaffers cups.
Leaf Imprint Mosaics

Marylou Newdigate, June 29, 2012 (ceramics, leaves)

Freshly cut and peeled clay leaves

Ceramic leaves set into a table

Leaves are pressed into clay, then cut out in their respective shapes, to be used in future mosaics and as inclusions in tables. I think with thin sheets of wax or clay this is a process that could directly apply to the process of making leaves or flowers to apply to molds as decorations. The only way the actual mosaic process would be helpful to me (see Craig’s Table for my reference of thought), is if I perhaps casted the leaves on their own – in different color. I could then fuse the leaves together, even with clear glass filling the crevices in between them; if color did not matter I could press wax leaves, arrange them into a plate design, then pour wax to fill up all the negative space between the leaves.

Leaf Imprint Stepping Stones
Stevie, June 9, 2012 (concrete, leaves and pebble stones)

Leaves are weighed down into cement with pebbles to create imprinted stepping stones. The act of weighting items to get better texture and depth will probably be useful. As well, pushing a material straight into plaster would be a simple and effective time saver, and much easier than pushing an item into wax or clay.
Leaf Imprinted Ceramics
pink_pamplemousse, June 14, 2009 (ceramic and leaves)

Ceramic vase with leaves painted differently than background

Leaves were pushed straight into the clay. I like this piece because it brought to my attention the idea of isolating texture in a different color to help it stand out, or in the reverse I could reuse the texture in a tight pattern and perhaps if I didn’t put emphasis on the texture it would no longer be recognizable as, say, a leaf pattern.
Kiwi Mold
Van Yulay, July 07, 2012, (kiwis, silicone)

A silicone mold created out of kiwi halves. I find it particularly amusing that the creator has decreed that no other is allowed to pour silicone over a kiwi. Making multipiece molds would be helpful if I discovered a texture I really enjoyed. In fact, this would be ideal for creating detailed fruit coasters that are cuts of kiwi, orange, lemon and lime. My idea was simply to paint on the design, but having added texture would really make them unique, and fulfill my joy of texturing objects. Only, as these molds would be for slumping glass and not pouring wax, I would want to create plaster molds that hopefully refrain from undercuts; otherwise I shall create a large multipiece silicone mold for each fruit, so that I can pour a new plaster every time.

Leaf Imprints With Crayon and Watercolor
Carolyn, June 29, 2011 (paper, crayon, watercolor, leaves)

 Paper is placed over leaves and the texture is picked up with crayons and then watercolor. There isn’t anything I specifically like about these pieces or pictures, perhaps because they’re simple crafts for kids. I decided not to count out any relative ideas I came across though, because you never know when the concept might become relative in a new way. For all I know I could run over a piece of translucent paper with enamels, then press a sheet of glass against that and pick up the enamels – though it would be far easier to just paint on the leaf itself and cut out the middle man. Still, if I drop this link I will regret it, so that's why this little diddy is in here.

Magic Foam Stamp

Textured magic foam!

As an added bonus I stumbled upon this little beauty! Magic Foam Stamps appear to be a product of foam that you heat with a hair dryer and then press onto any textured surface you’d like. If you do not like the texture, or are finished with it, you simply apply the hair dryer again to return the foam to it’s regular state. This may not work ideally with wax (perhaps frozen though?), as wax will melt when heated up. It is useful for clay as well as picking up natural textures though. As an added bonus you are picking the texture up on a flat surface, which makes for easy reapplication!

Other ideas I am interested in researching and exploring are:
Different ways to make molds
Enameling & screen printing
Recycling fired plaster

Unconscious artMarbling glass
InclusionsDecals