Family Trees

Family Tree in calligraphy by Joan Merrell in Jefferson City MO, circa 1999?

One of the first large jobs I ever did on commission was a family tree. The client had an old xerox that was about three pages taped together lengthwise and written out with quite a few mistakes due the the transcriber not understanding the original German.
I had a bit of difficulty coming up with a nice layout. Many times I wished I could take a few children and move them from one family to another to balance things out. Fortunately the client didn't have a deadline, as I found that after working on it for a while I would have to give up and put it aside, sometimes for a couple of months. Eventually I did work out something I liked, using lettering appropriate for the German. I was lucky to have a husband who knows some German and was able to help with correcting some of the text.
I used walnut ink on Nidegen paper.

A few years later, I was asked to fill in a Martha Stewart family tree. This was more nerve-wracking, as I wasn't sure I could correct anything and I had to fit some long names in some tiny spaces. I thought I had really messed up until I realized that one section was repeated because there were common ancestors.

The most recent family tree job was filling out a Fraktur print, which included a little creative correcting of the form to fit in some large families.

detail of purchased family tree print from client with names filled in

I've tried designing a large papercast tree where family members can have names on paper leaves that fit indentations in the casting, but then I realized that ancestors are more roots than leaves, which put the whole thing on the back burner.

Paper Cast Certificate of Appreciation

cast paper certificate, hand done in a mold carved by the lettering artist in polymer clay

Recently I completed three more castings for the Missouri Hospital Association. A few years ago they requested some form of certificate that could be reproduced and have the names and dates filled in as necessary. Making a calligraphic papercasting mold gave them something really unique that their retirees have enjoyed receiving. Some day I'll have to see if I can go back and figure out how many I have done altogether.

this calligraphic papercasting shows raised lettering as well as opposite "indented" letters) cast with cotton linters in a polymer clay mold

     I usually don't write on a cast surface, it is not friendly to writing. I have not yet figured out a good way to be able to write with pen and ink, so I have to use a pointed brush to fill in letters transferred on from pen-designed rough drafts, using acrylic ink after spraying with fixative to help seal. I do enjoy making each name different, using whatever style seems to work well for the length of the name in the available space, as well as looking good with the particular combination of letters.

learn papercasting through tutorials on this blog

     So far the mold has lasted quite well, though occasionally I have to repair small bits. It gets tricky when there are extra words and dates because they have to be quite small, but I have gotten plenty of experience making the castings and now they always come out quite crisp. I keep my eye out for various decorative textured papers or mats for mounting them on, even though it doesn't show very much. I tired other colors but the gold works well -  including the way it shows up differently if different light similar to the way the cast letters show up according the available light.
    So, if you want one, just get onto the board of trustees.................... or learn to make your own castings through the tutorials on this blog :) or through workshops for your group or guild.

Two Versions of a Favorite

Some of you are familiar with a print I did a few years ago that started out as a Mother's Day gift for women at our local church (giclee prints now for sale on Etsy, by the way:)

Some time later, I had a commission to do the same quote in two parts, so they could go on either side of a family photo, and to adapt it to the taste and decor of the client. I spent a lot of time trying different versions because the client is a good friend and I really wanted it to be "right". It's an interesting challenge to make things balance when the quote doesn't divide right in half and the words worth emphasizing are not evenly distributed either. Pretty sure I'm not the first calligrapher to want to rewrite something to better fit - the first family tree I did I really, really wanted to move a few kids to another family.
But I think it was successful in the end.

You can see that some things are similar, like using capitals for emphasis and contrast, and fairly clean and simple letters. Both are written out in gouache on backgrounds done with "saran wrap" technique on watercolor paper. (Arches 90 lb. hot press)

Wedding Painting

I recently was asked to take a painting done by Robin Lee and write out a couple's wedding vows. They had been intrigued by the Ketubah tradition and wanted something similar that could be signed during the ceremony. Since they liked Robin's work, they commissioned a painting from her that was then sent to me to write on. I've written on canvas with metal pens before but not on surfaces done by others, so I had to do a little research to make sure it would work. I ended up spraying lightly with a fixative to give the acrylic paint surface a bit of "grab" and then used acrylic gouache so I could have more control over flow. It was still a little erratic but did OK. I worked out a style that seemed to fit the painting style and could be done at a size to fit the wording (it is a the shorter of two versions sent me, fitting in more just wasn't going to work)
You see the signatures added on Robin's facebook page

And here's a closer look at the lettering, done with a clipped EF66 nib and acrylic gouache with a little acrylic black ink added to get it dark enough since I usually only have red, yellow and blue in acrylic gouache. Of course, to ensure the fairly "flush right" margin I had to do some extra layout and tracing work.

 I had to varnish it since the painter kindly didn't make me write over varnish, and since the gouache didn't adhere as tightly as painting acrylic paint on, I used a conservation quality spray varnish to make sure not to disturb the lettering while adding protection. It did make me realize that some of my previous canvas work probably should not have gone out of here without a protective coat!

Here's an example of a Ketubah by a calligrapher I know, and a gallery-full by another . I have done a wedding certificate or two where all the guests sign it, such as for Quaker weddings.

8: Critique Tutorials for PaperCasting

Anyone who is trying out the process, please let me know any problems or confusion so I can edit and improve the tutorials. Send to joan.merrell@gmail.com
Also, if you send photos and descriptions of problems with test castings, I could use them in the "how to fix your molds" segment upcoming :)

STEP 6: Making your PaperCasting

Okay, those of you who have stuck with it to this point should have:
-planned your design (for your first try it could be something very small and simple)
-conditioned and rolled your clay (if your design is not small, there's also a post on joining strips of clay)
-transferred the design onto the clay
-cut, backed, and baked your mold
(if not, click on the links and go for it!)

Hooray! you are ready to make your test casting. There's a lot of detail here for those who really want a crisp, top-quality casting - you can just plop in some pulp and sponge the water out and see how it turns out if you aren't picky or want a rough look - but you won't be able to tell what defects you might have in the mold.

First you make some pulp. You will need a blender, a strainer, plastic tubs/bowls, cotton linter or paper, methycellulose optional. For filling your mold you will need flat toothpicks, clean flat sponge, thin terrycloth towel.This will not hurt your blender nor make it toxic. (Rinse or wash new sponges - sometimes the color bleeds)

I like to use cotton linters from Twinrocker but you can use other cotton linter, or cheap watercolor paper from a pad from the crafts store, or good paper scraps from your friendly print- or book-maker --- or just about any paper in a pinch but I really think you will be happier with something nice, like a good pure cotton. You will get good detail and no discoloration over time. You won't get a crisp result with paper towels, toilet paper, etc. I'd use copy paper quality at least.

Your first casting is your test casting to see how the mold works, so using pure white will make that easier - it helps you see detail.

Using additives is optional but I learned that I get the best results with a little methycellulose to help all elements of the casting adhere better. You must add it while the water is moving, using the hole in the lid of the blender. It takes less than half of a 1/4 tsp. measure for one blenderful of water. Some papermakers add a little PVA (white glue - teaspoon per blenderful maybe)

If you use sheets of cotton linter, you will need a piece a little larger than your casting mold.  Don't worry about making too much as it's easy to save for another time.

Fill the blender with water, start it blending and gradually pour in a small amount of methycellulose if you have it. While it blends, put the lid on the methylcellulose jar and then put center plug back in the lid of the blender, and by then it will have blended enough.
Tear up the linter sheet into pieces about 1" and drop in. It takes a little experience to tell how much - probably not over about 6x7 inches total. If you are using paper instead of linter, it helps to let it soak a while. Blend until you feel it is pretty evenly soupy - maybe a minute. Pour into a strainer over a bowl or plastic container and shake around a bit until some of the water is out and it's a very wet lump. Dump into another container. You can put the water back in the blender and add more linter and blend again.

Set your mold in front of you, have some flat toothpicks (not round pointy ones), a clean flat sponge, and a fairly thin terry towel handy. Unless there are no narrow or deep parts to your mold, you will probably have to "toothpick" it to ensure a really crisp casting. This is done by taking a small blob of pulp and setting it near the part you are working on, teasing a little bit into a shape similar to the hole and putting it in. You can use fingernails for really tight bits, but mostly the toothpick works well to tamp it down in. Make sure you get pulp into all the corners and don't feel the hard clay of the mold when you push down with the toothpick. It takes a little practice but you can tell by feel and sometimes by look whether you have enough pulp in. You don't want it hard, just somewhat firm with no holes where the clay is not well covered. If your backing is colored, you shouldn't see the color through the pulp. Note: We are still filling only the holes or depressions in your mold. Sponge off excess water and push pulp all down in.

When you feel you have gotten all the depressions filled and sponged off to check, you will cover the whole mold with blobs of pulp. After initial "patting" down to make the blobs spread to cover it all, you should have it more than 1/4 inch thick all over.
You will need to gently slap it with the flat of your hand - you should hear "slap" and see some water flying. Think patting someone's cheek. Keep pushing it back in toward the middle from around the edges so it is within your borderlines or near your raised or lowered edging. You should slap it for some time until it becomes a cohesive sheet - you will tell a difference. Turn it so you are slapping from different directions. This takes a couple of minutes or so. If it just won't smooth out, you have gotten it too dry. All pulp put into or on the mold should be pretty wet. You should need to sponge up puddles underneath the mold now and then.

When you think it is smooth and cohesive, make sure it is all in close or within the edge you want, then make the "deckle" by using your fingertips to tap the outer edge until it is very thin, you should see the clay through it. If you see clay anywhere else though, add more wet pulp.
Check the evenness of your edges and then start sponging water out. Lay the sponge down and gently press, allow to come back up and suck out water. Squeeze it out into your container and move to a new spot. Now is the time your deckle "sets" so check it closely -- if you need to add pulp, make it very wet and pat into place. You can gently pull back  if the pulp is too close or going off the edge.
When you are happy with your edge, continue sponging until you can't get much of any water out any more.

Now you "towel". Lay your  towel on top of the pulp and press with fairly flat fingers all over your mold. Lift up, move to a dry part of towel and do it again.Now turn the mold, move the towel, and press more. Keep towel-pressing until it's hardly damp. You should be feeling depressions in the mold and see some of them and have a firm surface. If your fingers aren't tired you probably haven't done enough, especially if the mold is large.

If you are anxious to see it, lean the mold near moving air from a vent. I usually keep a stiff cardboard (or a tile) underneath as the clay will sag. A small fan is OK but often the edges will dry too fast and start to warp - you can put weight on the corners to help flatten while the rest dries. Do not try to take out your casting until it is quite thoroughly dry or the letters may stay in while the backing comes off!. I always allow at least overnight to dry unless there's a good reason to speed things up.

To remove the casting use something like a butterknife or letter opener to slip under the edges and work your way around and around, gently working it up.If it seems to stick, take your time, keep oging aroudn coaxing gently.. If bits do stay in the mold you can get them out with a pin and glue on with with PVA.

Other problems will be addressed in "Fixing and Refining Your Mold" to follow.
Feel free to send questions!

This is much easier to demo than to write about, you can get personal help and learn many variations on these basic techniques by having a workshop in your area.
Or, stay tuned for information about online classes where we will go step by step through several projects with feedback - not as fun as live workshops but it won't matter where you are, and there will be a "group" to experience it with.

an Anniversary Book

For my parents' 60th anniversary we gathered a few months early - the only time all their children me and my siblings) were available to be in the same place at the same time. So we thought it would be great to surprise them with a gift on the actual day. But then we missed it because I didn't really know the right date!

At any rate, our project was successful otherwise.
At our gathering (with the stealthy help of two nephews) I gave each of the seven siblings an unsewn signature with instructions to do whatever they wanted on the pages - that would be celebratory and have something about their family. We ended up with photos, notes, drawings, quite a variety. Another signature included a list of all the family members in order of birth (or marriage into the family)

One brother is a woodcarver and he made a wonderful box for the book to go in.

I used a binding method that is entirely undo-able if ever needed, but more importantly, that allows for any thickness of pages and will lie flat for easy viewing. (Learned at a workshop at the St. Louis Calligraphy Guild - I believe it was by Micheal Jacobs). My father is a geographer and made several trips to Guatemala so it was appropriate to use a map for the cover. Here's the title page- a piece of Guatemalan cloth wrapped the book inside the box.

experimenting with oil paint and calligraphy

lettering  in and on water-soluble oil paint with venice turp glaze, canvas is 18x24 inches

this was the blocked-in color, maybe I like it better than the finished piece.

While I like the final result of my first try with oils, the lettering is not very good as the surface was not pleasant to work on nor the paint to control. I had originally wanted to try on a panel but didn't have one when I was ready to start.. So next I decided to try that (a wood panel) with acrylic gouache for the first layer and writing and use oil glazes over it. I figure since you can put oil paint over acrylic that should work, and allow the richness and enamel-like finish I was interested in.

So I got some small - just 6x8 inch - panels for experimenting. I coated this one with water absorbent ground and did a background painting with diluted acrylic guoache

I really liked it, almost didn't write on it. Then I wrote with acrylic gouache and metal pen - it worked pretty well although occasionally the pen actually dug into the soft ground. It was certainly easier to work with than the water-soluble oil on primed canvas, even though I tried a variety of mediums, etc.

Then I coated it with the venice turp oil glaze and did some more painting into it (with the oils) to add some other color and help the words be a little more "under the surface". It doesn't show up in the photos much differently unless I get where the gloss gets in the way of photographing.

At any rate, I don't know if the oil has enough barrier from the ground with the thin acrylic layer or if it will matter in the long run, but at least the basics worked. I have two more small panels and  plan to continue experimenting and learning about the possibilities before trying another large piece.

Chinese and English Calligraphy (transcribing historical document)

British document from 1762 saved by Chinese family of calligraphers

An account of my experience during a visit to Utah in April of 2006:

My daughter and son-in-law have taken calligraphy classes in college and since he spent two years in Taiwan they also took Chinese calligraphy last year and gave me a couple of lessons at Christmas time.

So I by pre-arrangment, on my latest visit I ended up going straight from the airport to the last Chinese Calligraphy class of the semester at Brigham Young University. They have a fourth or fifth generation calligrapher who has won many awards in China and other countries who decided to come to the U.S. when his son came to school in Salt Lake City. His name is Duanran Fan as translated/americanized in his book or Fan Zhuan Ran as my son-in-law puts it, being more the proper Chinese way. No one ever used his name, probably because we wouldn't say it right! According to the bio in his book he has been a calligrapher for over 40 years and is the only calligraphy professor in Yunan province.

He was very gracious, asked what questions I had - of course I didn't know enough to have any. So he demonstrated quite a bit and then spent some time explaining how to tell if the calligraphy is good. Very familiar principles, like keeping symmetrical and good proportions, having equal white spaces in various parts of the character, having contrast in the stroke - a bit of narrowing and widening or smooth and squared on one end and rounder/rougher on the other-

teacher demo

(One disappointment with the few Oriental calligraphy books I've seen is that they don't explain the amount of pressure and release or tell you where it happens - there may be little arrows of direction and such but often the change of direction is not so much a stroke as a pushing down of the brush, often through wrist action. Thanks to modern digital technology I did get a couple of very brief video clips to watch over and over as I practice -not that I expect to do real oriental work but to improve on control of the brush can't hurt.)

Fan Zhuan Ran and me at  BYU

He had me demo western lettering a little (pretty rusty) and my son-in-law who was translating told him a bit about how some of the styles I was showing were from hundred of years ago - The teacher got very excited and asked when we could meet with him again.

He seemed interested in history so I looked for some handouts on historical alphabets, warmed up a lot to be able to write better, etc. It turned out that what he wanted was help with an old document handed down in his family. He had brought it to this country when he came, wanting to find a professor of archaic English, then realized that it wasn't the language but the lettering that was the problem. So my son-in-law and I spent about 2 1/2 hours transcribing this document from 1762. 

detail of document saved by Chinese family for over 200 years

It is a British legal document - was fun to see where there were corrections, differences in writing where a blank was filled in later, etc. It really took a little detective work. The family had thought it was a letter with possible royal or noble connections since there is a seal with a crown, a tax stamp, another stamp or seal of some type, etc. But it is actually very boring, mostly legalese where they used 50 words when one would do and give multiple descriptions of various properties. There is one interesting bit where if legally demanded someone has to pay one peppercorn after one year - for rent I believe. When we got back to my parent's, my dad called a neighbor who spends half the year in England searching old documents and he came and gave a little advice on words we were unsure of (said this document was much more recent than what he works with).
Technology is so amazing, my son-in-law had taken photos with his digital camera and we were able to proofread by having the document and the transcription up on the computer screen together-

After we transcribed that afternoon, we joined a calligraphy class (western) having a session in the library's Special Collections so the Chinese professor got to see and in some cases handle some beautiful old manuscripts, compare ages, and see some of the similarities with his document - like holes down the side for making guidelines.

The very best part though, is that "to give me a more real idea of Chinese calligraphy" this gentleman wrote out two scrolls for me  -on 200 year-old paper that had been "found" in his family's "stuff". The characters are written over pale wood-block prints from when the paper was made. He says they are better than the ones in his book (through pulling strings he and my son-in-law tracked down the last available copy of his instruction book that has a color section of his work in the back). He said he has not met many calligraphers over here and wanted to share with someone who would appreciate it. There are flecks of gold in the paper that he said will turn red over time.

Sorry I can't get the images to go next to each other - I'd love a good translation of the scrolls if any readers are Chinese :)

The photo of me and the Chinese teacher (above) is from when we went back to class when he was picking up final projects, and I got him to write a couple of symbols I wanted to see - I have to say that I cannot yet appreciate the "artistic style" as much, but watching him do it is absolutely wondrous! 

more teacher demo

I got invited to demo western lettering for the Chinese calligraphy guild if I ever happen to be in China - wish that were likely, but I think I would feel very unqualified anyway.

Here's a higher-resolution image for those who want to look closely 

and here's the transcript in google docs  if anyone is interested.

Hope you enjoyed my bit from the past. I still haven't figured out how to mount or frame the scrolls. He said he hadn't had time to mount them and suggested simply laying them under glass in frames so they are not glued, but that would take some pretty long frames.........

All Good Things Must Come to an End

I wish I had a few more pics of  how this display morphed over the weeks, but finally someone was ready to take on the space with new art-- my "April" month display for "Featured Artist" at the Art Bazaar lasted until this last week! I think I got my share of exhibit space plus. Guess the stuff that came home will be going on etsy soon. Except for the "Bromeliad" piece which now belongs to my son Evan.

If you look closely there are lots of frogs in it -- if you haven't read "The Bromeliad" by Terry Pratchett, you should. I'm waiting for someone to realize what a great pair of movies it would make. (there are three parts, but the last two happen concurrently so they'd have to be in one big movie) It's got everything - fantasy, science fiction, philosophy, romance, and its hilarious to boot.

And the papercast tower that shows in the corner of the top photo now looks much better with a beautiful wooden base by Tom Schulte. I seem to have lost the photos, maybe later.....

Updates on calligraphic works

I think this one is worth making prints of (this is not the professional photo, obviously). Seems like in Jeff City the smaller and cheaper prints go a lot faster than nice large ones, I've had requests for the "Charity" quote smaller sized. It's not that big, I think its the price they want smaller.

Meanwhile I am still waiting for the glaze to dry on my first oil painting with calligraphy - I was going to add another layer of glaze but maybe this isn't the right kind to layer. It was interesting to be able to go back in and work in the wet glaze.

I had wanted to try it on a panel but didn't have one in time, so I'm prepping some little ones I got since then for trials. I'm not sure water-absorbant ground is usually used on panels but I'm going to try it out with thin acrylic gouache backing, possible some writing in the same medium, and then move to oils/glazes.

STEP 3: (or maybe 1!) Choosing or adapting designs for paper casting

Basically, there are a few "rules of thumb":
Simple, clean lines usually work best.
Things look smaller and farther apart in the casting - (make elements bolder/heavier and closer together than you might usually do on paper)
Sufficient depth is needed for the design to show up if viewed from any distance --narrow and deep molds can look good because they give good shadows, but they are difficult and labor-intensive to cast well.

a very popular casting, but do you want to spend several hours putting pulp into crevices with a toothpick?

There are several other things you might consider when choosing or working out a design for making a casting mold such as:
size, eventual use, difficulty (of cutting mold and of making a casting), legibility (this could mean "reading" or being able to see a design that's not lettering as well), as well as method of mold making (cutting vs.impressing or carving, etc.

Size:
Polymer clay molds can hold the tiniest details, but that doesn't mean they will be visible from a distance. If you are doing a card that will be held in the hand you can go small and detailed, but for wall art, you want to make sure it will not look like an empty frame hanging there. And very small things are not only hard to cut as a mold but are difficult to put pulp into when casting. However, you can successfully make impressed letters or designs very small -
When I teach beginning classes, I ask the students bring designs where the lettering (x-height) is not less than 1/2 inch high, preferably without hairlines or serifs. If you want it to be readable on a wall and easy to mold, you will need the clay layers about as thick as a matboard and your smallest design elements should be no smaller than that thickness.
Since the easiest method for transferring the design starts with a photocopy, make several in varying sizes so you can do some last-minutes adjusting, maybe even cutting and pasting elements from various sizes.

You will also have to consider the size of the oven. If you are being safe with a dedicated toaster oven, your mold does have to fit in it. Often an 8x10 tile fits well for baking on so this would be your maximum mold size including extra around the edges for making your lovely deckle, making the maximum design size more like 5x7".

these are samples I bring for beginning classes to try out their first mold

If you are going bigger, you can use baking sheets, cardboard, even masonite to bake molds on.

The height of the taller sides are the width of my oven, baked on masonite pieces

Use:
As mentioned above, you can go small if the item is something hand-held like a card or a book. You can make letter stamps from clay or do tiny writing by using the Clay Shaper to impress letters.You might be able to call attention to a wall piece with large letters or designs and have some smaller elements to discover as people come closer. Of course, the lighting where someone views it is going to make a big difference and you may or may not have control over that.

This one is easy to cast but harder to see,  I remade it in a smaller size to use as a card

Difficulty:
You will also want to consider how much time and effort you are willing to put into making castings. One of my most popular castings is also the hardest to cast (see second photo above), taking as long as three or four hours to make sure pulp is down in all the crevices and that colors are in the right places. This is not really a lot of fun and you are unlikely to sell them for enough money to make your time worthwhile (unless may you live in New York?). On the other hand, perhaps you only want to make one for yourself and many hours of work is not a problem.

Straight lines are good. Sometimes you can simplify just by cutting off serifs or other tiny details. Stencil designs are helpful to look at, they are usually bold and simple

As mentioned above, you will have trouble cutting if the width of the letter stroke (or design element) is less than the thickness of your clay layer. The simpler the design and the wider the area cut, the easier it will be to cast. Impressed letters, especially small ones, are fast and easy to cast.

This student project is very crisp and clear and will be fairly easy to cast. Below it is a test casting of small impressed lettering across the bottom - a small trial mold was made and baked and cast.

 Sometimes complications in the mold do not make it hard later, such as the multi-layered NOEL which was very tricky to figure out and cut, but is fairly easy to cast.

paper cast Noel from polymer clay mold

the planning for NOEL, second and third try

You can also make casting easier if you open up narrow areas by making it more of a wide "V" cut so the pulp can get in and out more easily. This can be done after the mold is baked and a test casting made,  by scraping gently with your x-acto.

Legibility:
If no one can read the words or figure out the design it doesn't matter how well you cut the mold or cast it. It is the shadows that really show up, or the contrast between the highest white and the cast shadow. So some things can work with the letters going down and some won't. Here is an example of a design done two ways to see which would work best (lettering "up" or "down"):

Its even more obvious in person, but the one on the right is so much more legible! In both cases the backing layer was textured, which puts the texture on the top part of the casting.

And this is one that I never fixed or cast after the test because I was thinking that having "darkness" going down would make it darker but it was lighter because of less shadow. (If I were going to use this mold I would rub clay into the name at the bottom and bake a little and redo.)

you can learn from my mistakes!

Here's one where having the letters "going down" works just fine-

This is a tiny one, used as an ornament or on cards.

 Method:
Multiple layers make it possible to have smaller and larger lettering or more complicated designs (just keep adding "backing") - the "windows" one above that I didn't like has three layers of depth plus "added on" words for the ones that go down in the casting.
If you want to impress instead of cut, you can make your own alphabet stamps of Premo, bake them, and use talcum to make sure you can get them out of the soft clay when pushed in-

Paper Cast Book using alphabet stamps made from polymer clay

 these letters can still take some care to cast if you want them really clean and sharp.

Here's a mold with letters impressed with a coffee stirrer stick pushed down around the outside of the letters. These are very quick and easy to cast and dry quickly, good for making lots of cards

The design came from a Christmas card done previously - original in pencil

Baked or unbaked clay can be carved with carving tools.

A workshop participant in Salt Lake City combined cutting and linoleum and other tools

Of course, methods can be combined in one piece.

Last but not least, all designs will benefit from having a borderline around them. Make it tighter in than you would think. Even if you don't use it to cut a raised or lowered border, you will need it to help make your deckle edge symmetrical - or as a guide to change where you put your deckle if the test casting shows its too near or far.

So, once you have the design chosen and its size worked out, you can decide how to prepare your clay (allow extra space around the edges, make layers thin if you are going to cut through more than one), transfer your design, and cut your mold. and bake.

Congratulations! next comes making your test casting.

 Feel free to send design ideas for help and comment. (joan@letterdesignstudio.com)
and don't forget, I love to come and teach this in person- I'm better at explaining and problem-solving  in real life than I am at writing.