Nerikomi: Patterns in Clay
Nerikomi is a Japanese ceramic technique in which different colored clays are layered, compressed and manipulated by hand to create patterns and marbled designs. The colors and patterns are embedded within the clay, not only on the surface. I use porcelain clay, hand-mixed with a range of vibrant pigments. I’m interested in exploring the sculptural possibilities of nerikomi, as a medium that transforms three-dimensionally at every step of the process.
Planetary Porcelain
In January of 2020 I exhibited my nerikomi sculpture series, Planetary Porcelain, in a solo show at Bromfield Gallery in Boston as a winner of the SOLO2020 competition. Inspired by NASA photographs of the planets, the sculptures hang on the wall as though floating in space. Each pattern on the surface runs all the way through the clay, created by layering and compressing different colors of porcelain through a variety of nerikomi techniques.
about the process of Making Nerikomi:
The first step of any nerikomi project is preparing colored clay. In this video I show how I prepare colored porcelain by hand-mixing pigments into the clay. (On a larger scale, this can also be done with an electric mixer.) I make many colors of porcelain, and then these are used to build patterns.
Above: a variety of nerikomi patterns I made by stacking, compressing, cutting and reassembling pieces of colored clay. When the pattern is finished, it is embedded within a block of clay. Then the block can be sliced into multiples of the same pattern, or shaped and transformed in other ways.
To make the half-hemisphere shape of my planet sculptures, I use a plaster mold. The plaster absorbs moisture from the wet clay, and when it is dry enough to keep its shape, the clay can be removed from the mold.
In this video, after removing a planet sculpture (Neptune) from the mold, I am gently scraping off the surface layer of clay to sharpen the pattern.
Nerikomi is a time-intensive process. In this video I show many of the steps for making one of my planet sculptures, Jupiter.
The pattern embedded within this block of colored porcelain was inspired by NASA photographs of storms on Jupiter. In this video I am slicing the block which will be used for several planet sculptures. The marbled stripes of color seen here look muted, but they will become bright and vibrant after firing in the kiln.
Another nerikomi pattern embedded inside a block of clay: it doesn't look like much from the outside... but see what happens when I slice it in half!
In addition to patterns and marbled effects, a beautiful gradient blend is also possible. The Skinner Blend is a technique originally developed by Judith Skinner for polymer clay, but it can also be adapted for ceramic clay. Different colored clays are arranged in such a way that they will blend into a gradient when flattened in a slab roller. Thanks to nerikomi artist Chris Campbell for teaching me this technique in one of her workshops!
A slab of porcelain with a blue and white gradient blend.