Eucalyptus leaves clay EUCLAY
Some months ago, thinking about waste, it seemed silly not to use the leaves and small branches of cut trees to make paper. Considering that the chemical substances that are found in trees are very similar to the substances present in leaves.
Then I thought, I am not interested in making paper!
One morning as I made breakfast, I looked at the already pulverised dried eucalyptus leaves and thought I may be able to make a clay with this powder!
Then got my pyrex jug which I use to make cold porcelain, and added a certain amount of this, another measure of that, mixed and there was EUCLAY!
Absolutely perfect amounts of each component to make a clay able to be used in thin layers for sculpting more solid shapes!
I have to add that I have been making cold porcelain clay since 1985 trying every product available to get the best clay.
However, Euclay does not have the same components of Cold Porcelain I think the idea of how the ingredients behave gave me the certainty to select the right ingredients in the right amounts in the first try.
For this clay I use dry eucalyptus leaves. I have access to Cinerea, Lemon Myrtle, Jarrah and Marri leaves.
It can be applied directly to glass, ceramics (glazed or not), MDF, wood, cardboard, styrofoam, leather etc
it does not take too long to dry, couple of hours, and it feels quite dry, and you are able to add more clay to sculpt your desired shape.
I have painted some works with the new Mont-Marte acrylic inks, and have used acrylic paints in a well diluted ways so as not to loose the brown colour of what the product is.
It can be worked extremely thin onto glass to achieve translucency of a caramel colour, ideal to decorate jars and put fairy lights inside.
The uses are mostly decorative.
I made a ceramics dish and covered the inside with Euclay, slightly enhancing a bit the brown colour using brown from Mont-Marte inks and then a very thin layer of a satin varnish.
This clay will be destroyed if you submerge the piece in water because it will absorbe the water and become a soft paste.
I am investigating and trying different varnishes to cover Euclay.
Being mostly wood product I will be testing wood varnishes I already have at home, and some art varnishes.
Varnishes can be urethane based, acrylic based, and other
My Partner Nicole Frankiewicz and I will be sharing EUCLAY workshops, starting from September 2024 at Three Hearts Art Studio in Mandurah. And we would be happy to travel if a good size group is requesting a workshop.
At the moment we are working on getting the best clay. Making different colours by testing with a variety of eucalyptus leaves, and improving the workability of the coarse clay.
Please visit our Facebook page "EUCLAY AUSTRALIA" for more information on workshops and how to purchase the clay.
From September onwards, Nicole and I will be available to do workshops.
We will be demonstrating how to work with Euclay in many places that we will advertise on:
_ Euclay Australia on Facebook
_Merino dreaming website ( here) for those of you that don't have a social media page.
Find Nicole Frankiewicz on Facebook @ Three Hearts Art Studio
Find Carmen Tyrer on Facebook @ Merino Dreaming
or send email to info@euclayaustralia.com.au

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