During the ideation phase of the additive/hybrid project, I came across Caroline Harrius's work, which combines ceramics and embroidery. The way she integrates soft hand-sewn threads with hard clay in this hybrid combination struck me as both elegant and creative. This also inspired me to use air-dry clay in my current creation.
While making the clay vase, I used an awl to poke holes in the body of the vase and attempted to pull knitting yarn through the small holes to create patterns on the surface.
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Then, I decided to use a carving technique to turn the broken holes from the weaving attempt into hollow designs. Perhaps by using light, I can project shadows through the carved holes on the vase.
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While thinking about the hybrid concept, I experimented with combining the natural and the artificial by adding organic pigments to the artificial air-dry clay (thanks to Arianna's suggestion!).
So I made additional flowers and leaves out of air-dry clay that can be placed in the vase, and I attempted to use real plants to color the artificial plants I created.
After the clay dried, it became very fragile, and I had to use super glue and hot glue along with napkins to repair them. (On the positive side, this could also be considered a kind of hybrid, haha.)
For the organic pigments, I used leftover scallions from cooking as the source of green, and ketchup as the source of red.
After using a hairdryer to dry it, the fibers of the scallion blended nicely with the air-dry clay, and I am satisfied with this outcome.
I feel that this project gave me the opportunity to rethink the definition and possibilities of hybrid. From initially just combining different crafts or materials to considering the integration of the natural and the artificial, this conceptual exploration has been very interesting to me.
However, air-dry clay is really a challenging material to work with... During the making process, I constantly experienced it breaking, then I would glue it back together, only for it to break again, and then I would glue it again... Even after completing the work, I accidentally broke one of the flowers, and I'm so frustrated because of this. If I have the opportunity to work with clay or ceramics again in the future, I think I will try to avoid air-dry clay and experiment with other, more durable materials instead.
