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Beautiful Ceramics Made From…Paper Towels?
When I first stumbled upon Jongjin Park’s Artistic Stratum series, I thought I was looking at giant, deformed sponges, rather than a series of delicately fired ceramics. The beautiful pieces, glazed in pastel pinks and cobalt blues, are a far cry from the typical pottery porn that has been making the blog rounds lately, and look unlike anything I have seen before.
Completed as part of his Master’s thesis at Cardiff Metropolitan University, the series is the result of Park’s exploration of materiality and natural materials. The artist began to focus on themes of materiality and tension after seeing a collection of ancient jewels on display at the National Museum Wales. “Specifically, I was drawn to the glossy surface and cold mood created by metal in perfect balance with the warm preciousness of gold,” Park remarks. “In the twisted metal shapes—created by traditional techniques of hammering, bending and fusing—I was able to realize an inherent property of the material. From then on, I started to be more experimental with materials.”
Due to the availability and low-cost of paper, Park began his explorations there. But his mind quickly moved back to ceramics—his field of focus—and started to think about ways of integrating the two materials. With a strong foundational knowledge of ceramic properties and techniques, Park decided to experiment with layering paper and porcelain slip by painting the slip onto different types of paper and firing them at a high temperature.
The first material he tried this technique with were thick paper towels. “The embossed texture created space between the layers and allowed me to use different color stains, so various colors and textures appeared simultaneously. These early experiments with the material brought to mind the basic technique of folding,” Park says.
When his student budget grew tight, Park moved on to experiment with newspaper—but didn’t find the same success. “The absorption of the oily newspaper was poor compared with the towels,” Park says. “When thick slip was added, it was difficult to mold and cut the newspaper after firing.”
“The initial approach was brushing individual pieces and moving them to the kiln piece by piece,” Park says of the process of layering each piece of paper coated in slip (sometimes up to 1,000 pieces of paper!) until they formed a larger mass. “The result of handling the pieces maximized the effect of each layer, but was labor intensive in that I had to constantly regulate the position and, oftentimes, pieces would become detached from the main body.”
Park found a solution in overlapping new pieces of paper over the previous layer, then brushing on the slip. “It allowed a greater economy of time and also made the structures more structurally sound,” Park says. “For the final step, I started using an iron—primarily with the newspapers—which had the advantage of compressing the pieces and helping them dry.”
As part of his research, Park experimented with both porcelain and stoneware, subtly varying oxidation and reduction to vary color and the final effect. Each assembly is fired at 1280 degrees, burning out the paper and leaving the layers of slip, which are hardened into solid ceramic. The pieces are so solid, in fact, that once they come out of the kiln, Park is able to cut and carve the final forms using various electronic tools like dremels and sanders—a task that is much easier than it sounds thanks to the thin space left between each layer. “Stoneware slip made it possible to cut the thicker layers after firing and the iron and grog within the stoneware slip facilitated the use of grinding tools,” Park says.
The resulting works are “paper-like, but definitely ceramic,” Park notes. Due to the underlying porcelain material, Park has discovered that he can layer the paper structures on top of other vessels and ceramic objects, which combine to create one solid form. “Also, I can layer thousands of pieces and only brush the edges with slip, creating a natural container after the firing process,” Park says.
The final form stems from the size of a paper towel—21 by 10 centimeters. “I can manipulate from this size,” Park says. “I’ve mainly made square pieces by using two paper towels and layering them, but sometimes I fold or add paper so the final shape is more rectangular.” Despite looking effortlessly light, Park guarantees that the final structures are, in fact, quite heavy.
As for what’s next for the artist, Park hopes to create new shapes and see how he can use other technologies like 3D printing. We’re eager to see the results. Those interested in learning more about the artist’s work can do so over on Artsy.
http://www.core77.com/posts/54024/Beautiful-Ceramics-Made-FromPaper-Towels