Ceramic Landscaper by Judith Henrion // Creative Fab Academie de Molenbeek

My art field is ceramics. My project was to create a tool designed to shape the clay with different patterns and texture, like creating a modifiable landscape on the clay surface.

I designed the tool as as roller. The roller should have a removable axis, where different shapes of wheel could be fixed on to result in different type of patterns and texture on the clay. To fix the wheels in stable position, the axis needed to have a squared section, so the wheels would stay in the same position while the roller would turn and shape the clay. 

To be able to compose different pattern and reproduce them, I designed different shapes of wheels and I numbered the wheels around the hole made to go around the axis. Each wheels can be fixed on the axis in 4 different positions. (look at the pictures for better understanding ;-)

This make a lot of combinations possible to texture the clay with using different shapes of wheel with each of them in 4 different positions. With the wheels numbered, I can write down the combination to be able to reproduce a pattern I like.

To  create this tool, I first draw all the different shapes of wheels, the axis and the handle on Inkscape, than I used the Laser cutting machine to cut all the pieces in 5,5 mm plexiglass. I chose plexiglass, because it is stronger than plywood and is not getting rotten in contact to humid clay, compared to wood.

To finish the project, I designed a organiser box in wood to store all the pieces of the 'Ceramic Landscaper'. I used inkscape and the Laser cutting machine to cut the pieces of the box in 3mm plywood.