Clay - Bas Relief

Anyone can work with Clay. I remember when I was still in Primary School we used to go and get some clay from a nearby hillside almost every Saturday morning. Believe it or not we used to do coffins mostly just by pounding the clay to a thick rectangle and hollowing it out with our fingers. Very messy but most enjoyable.

I think that the simplest thing to make with clay is a bas-relief like the ones I’ve produced on this page. All you need is a lump of soft earth clay or any other clay and a stiff wooden board. It is best to cover the board with a sheet of plastic so that the wood does not absorb the moisture in the clay.

One can start by doing something simple like a landscape with hills in the background, a plain area divided into small rectangles to represent fields and maybe a small cottage in the foreground. The first thing to remember when working on a bas-relief is to always start with the background, which should have the lowest profile, that is the area with the least thickness of clay. For example in our landscape, the cottage which is nearer to us would have to look more prominent than the hills at the back. Similarly the fields in the foreground or nearer the center would have a fairly distinguishable rubble wall or fence whereas for those further away a simple dividing line in the clay would suffice.

A bas relief is simpler to do, unlike a stand-alone statue or bust. In a bas relief you are basically only depicting the front part of things. One should do some research and have a plan before beginning to work with the clay, perhaps a drawing which you have prepared yourself beforehand. You can even fix the drawing on the board with masking tape which will make it easier since you can follow the lines of the drawing. A little research is always important and it will save you a lot of anxiety afterwards. In the St. George on Horseback (above), I started doing the horse from memory without a picture of some kind to follow and it cost me no end of trouble. I looked on the internet for a prancing steed but couldn't find one to my liking. I later discovered that I had one or two in my camera which I had taken for this same purpose in Italy when I was on holiday last Summer, but I had forgotten all about them.

To start building your bas relief you begin by taking small pieces of clay from your lump, flattening them as required and 'sticking' them to the wooden board. If you are doing the hills, form your small pieces of clay into triangular shapes for example and flatten them on the board. If you are doing clouds, you would form your pieces into roughly rounded shapes, for rubble walls irregular small beads flattened into place and so on. Use your imagination and form the clay pieces as you think best.

The St. George is about 15 inches by 11 and large enough to work mostly with the fingers but the usual tools have also been used. The Hercules and Calypso is a little smaller while the other 4 coloured bas reliefs are smaller still. As you can see I have painted the latter with acrylic paint after they had naturally dried. Before colouring I applied a coat of shellac, the kind that is used in French polish. I also gave them a coat of varnish and fitted them into frames and they are now hanging in my hall. Although they are not great works of art I'm quite happy with them. My favourite is Jesus Christ calming the waters, then comes the nativity scene, the prodigal son follows and lastly the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel.

Repairing Broken Clay and Plaster

Repairing broken or cracked clay - - You may have noticed that the St. George has cracked in the left hand corner, in the horse's neck owing to the fact that the wooden board was not strong enough and it buckled a little bit, since it was missing a plastic sheet (my mistake). But I have now filled the crack with very soft clay mixed with a few drops of white carpenters' glue. After it dries I'll smoothen it down with a sharp tool and sandpaper. I've done this before and I found it a very good solution to mend broken clay pieces.

Recently I was asked to repair a small hand of Mary Magdalen made of plaster.  It had pieces of fingers missing. The hand, palm and fingers was only about 1 1/2 inches. I know that clay does not stick to plaster but I had to fashion the missing portions in clay to finish the job as quickly as possible.  I stuck a small lump of clay to the plaster fingers and started sculpting, using a sharp knife, wetting it to make it slip easily through the clay without cracking it and shaving off carefully slices of excess clay.  When I was satisfied about the size and form of the fingers, I let it dry for a day or two.  I knew that a crack would develop between the clay and the plaster but I solved this defect by filling and plastering the crack with polyfiller.  When this dried I smoothed it down with the knife and fine sand-paper.

 It is curious that I find it easy to get inspiration from my religious knowledge, the Bible and the Sciptures and in fact my next Bas Relief is going to be a piece of sacred art as well. Another curious thing is that when I look at my work, I like it OK, but I always observe that I could have done it better, more refined perhaps. Do you think so too?