Chain Mugs

measuring the chain length before cleaning and trimming

At the start of the summer, I had this idea to make mugs with chains. They're totally impractical, but I wanted to try it anyway. I started these in June, then realized that something like a cookie jar would be better with a chain because it wouldn't need to be cleaned as often or heated. Too late. I threw and glazed mugs, not cookie jars.

thrown mugs from June

These particular mugs progressed slowly, though. I threw and trimmed them in a couple of days, then took ages to get them glazed. I threw them as straight walled forms, then pressed the chains into the wet clay as I wrapped it around the mug, gradually moving from top to bottom.

chain mug with sprigs and cut groove

On two of the mugs I carved out a slight indent for the chain and added sprigs for texture. For the others, I wrapped the chain around the mug and gently pressed the soft wall of the mug out to bulge between the loops of chain.

chain mug with bulging wall

I fired all four mugs to cone 6 so they'd be food safe, using some new to me glazes. Since I don't fire cone 6 as often as I fire to lower temperatures, it took a while to fill that kiln.

 
bike chain before and after cleaning

Once the mugs were glazed and fired, I cleaned and prepared the chains. I started by cleaning them in Simple Green with a stiff dishwashing brush, then I used a spinning wire brush to clean off rust and the remaining oil. Strangely, one of chains didn't get completely clean using this method and I can't quite quite figure out why. It looks as clean as the others, but leaves grease on my fingertips.

using a wire wheel to clean chain

After the bike chains were cleaned, I used a chain tool to trim the chain to the correct length. This chain tool can be used to remove a link from a chain, cutting it down to size. It can also be used, with some frustration, to add a link to a chain. 

 
chain tool for removing or adding links

Once I had cleaned, measured, and trimmed the chains to size, I used two-part epoxy to attach the chains. 

mug, cleaned chain, and chain tool

I started with PC-11, but didn't feel like I was getting a strong bond and didn't like the white residue left by the epoxy, so I went to the hardware store in search of some clear epoxy. I hadn't used PC Clear before, but I've been happy with PC-7 and PC-11 in the past.

chain taped in place for epoxy curing

Both of the epoxies I tried are slow curing, so I taped the chains on the mugs for 24 hours. The chains fit fairly well in their grooves, but I wish I had made the grooves a bit deeper. The chain adds some weight, obviously, so adding thickness to the walls might not make sense, but with a shallow groove for the chain, there is some wiggle room where the chain is placed.

the PC-11 didn't hold this chain in place

I used PC-11 on half of all the chains and then switched to PC Clear to finish each mug. The PC Clear is much less visible, allowing me to use more of it. It's texture is similar to the glazed surface of the mugs, helping to make it less visible agains the glazed surfaces. On one mug, the PC-11 didn't hold the chain in place at all, so I redid it with PC Clear.

finished mugs before clear coat

Another potential problem with these mugs is that the chains might rust, especially if they get wet from cleaning or humidity. To try to prevent rusting, I sprayed a clear coat on the chains. Obviously I don't want to drink from a clear coat, so I protected the interior, handle and other exposed clay with masking tape before I sprayed on the clear coat.

taped mugs ready for clear coat

The end result is what I wanted, even if what I wanted is kind of silly. Obviously I don't plan to sell these not-entirely-functional mugs, but I wanted to try combining a functional form with an industrial look. I am considering, if I do this in future, making the chain from clay as well. If the chain were clay, it could be used functionally and cleaned with less fuss, but I am afraid it would lose its industrial look.

finished blue bulge mug

The trouble with making the chain from clay is that the major material feature of the chain is that it is thin and flexible in one direction while rigid and strong in the other. A clay chain that looks convincing would probably need to be made from separate cast or cut links put together on the wet pot. The small, thin pieces of clay would me more likely to chip, bend, have rough edges, or crack. Scoring and slipping might remain visible on the mug behind the chain. The final result might be more fragile, and, of course, the process would be quite tedious.

finished blue sprig mug

I was trying to envision using a 3D printer for the chain, but I'm not sure 3D clay printers can do such fine detail. If a resin printer is more detailed, it would still result in the same sorts of epoxy issues as the metal chain, but without the risk of rusting. A resin printed chain would look like resin, whereas with clay I could us gold or silver decal to make it look like metal.

finished colorful sprig mug

First Summer 2016 Sculpture(s) in Progress (1 of 3)

finished wiggly rim selfie

Last week I was finally able to begin my first serious sculpture of 2016, after completing commission work and glazing through most of June.

one not-very-exciting thrown piece of the eventual sculpture

I threw some pieces on Tuesday and started putting them together over the next couple days. I had a fairly good idea of the basic structure of the one piece and the top of another, but the form of the pieces developed further while the thrown parts were pieced together. 

the basic form in progress

I wanted to build a piece that had a large bulb-like shape on the bottom rather than a simple round base. I was thinking of the form of the piece I did for the SRAM Bike Project, way back in 2012. However, now that I look back at that piece, the forms are less directly similar than they were in my head. Regardless, I wanted to explore this bulbous base for a bike-part form again.

texture, sprigs, and chain track in progress

I wanted to incorporate bike parts into this piece as well, but I didn't want the bottom part to be plain or all bike-part-y, so I incorporated some sprigs from a mold I've had for quite a while. The mold is off a bell pepper. It's one of the biggest sprig molds I have and it allowed me to make sprigs of different sizes for this piece.

part of the chain in its track

One issue that came up in building this form is that the chain doesn't really want to bend the way I'd like to use it. I decided to put the chain "track" where I want the chain to go and manually adjust the chain later, after firing. I want the chain to curve in both dimensions. I haven't altered the chain much previously, aside from length, so this will be a new challenge...to deal with later.

texture, sprigs, and chain track

As often happens, while I am building, I got so carried away with the surface texture on this piece (and two others I was working on concurrently), that the project surface took up the bulk of my time compared to the relatively fast building of the form.

the base, formed and mostly textured

I didn't work on the projects over the long weekend, though I was a little worried about them drying too much in that time. When I came back to them today, some parts for a different piece were a little dry, but this form was fine to build on.

 

the opening with gear stack (left) and the neck more completely textured (right)

Today I spent my time working mostly on the neck and the top opening of this form, but I am not finished. I want the gear cassette to be prominent in the opening at the top of the form, so I plan to cut the rim a little shorter than it is in these pictures and wave the edges.

the form and texture nearly complete for the day

When I finished working on this piece today, the rim was a little too dry to move how I wanted it too, so I wet it, compressed it, and wrapped it up in plastic. Then I started on the other larger sculpture I was working on and never got back to the first one. If all goes well, I should finish building this form tomorrow. Edit: I finished building this form Wednesday.

finished wiggly rim