chartres cathedral at night

How To Make

A Chartres Finger Labyrinth

 chartres labyrinth from above
 

Everyone is curious...

about how I make my Chartres Finger Labyrinth. Here's a nice little photo essay on how it's done. The long and winding process from design to finished artwork...

There are quite a few pictures, so if one of them happens to get lost on the way to your computer, just hit your browser's refresh button, and it should come down.

If you've stumbled onto this page...
and are looking to buy a Chartres Finger Labyrinth-
click here to see what I've got available today!

  
Here is the original design on paper. It's a mirror image so that when transferred to the plaster, it will face in the correct direction. design on paper for chartres finger labyrinth  
     
  finger labyrinth design transfered to plaster The design has been transferred to the plaster blank for carving.
     
The plaster model being carved using wood carving tools. The clay tools help in smoothing the carved lines. carving the finger labyrinth in plaster
     
vacuum table for carving finger labyrinth This is my vacuum table. I use it for jobs that create unhealthy dust- like carving, sanding, or mixing glazes.
     
After days of work, the plaster carving is complete. Now I am preparing to cast the urethane master. preparing to pour the finger labyrinth master
     
first urethane pour of finger labyrinth

The first urethane casting has been poured. The original carving is a "positive".

This first casting is a "negative" (the finger pathway is raised). Then we make a urethane positive from the urethane negative. It is the same as the plaster carving.

This "master" is used to make a negative plaster mold, which is then used to make the final positive castings in clay.

Got that? ;^)

     
Here's the first urethane negative casting with it's cool arty wooden form or "cottle". urethane negative casting with wooden form
     
ready to pour the second urethane master Now we are almost ready to pour the second urethane casting, the master.
     
The second pour is complete. second urethane pour
     
urethane master with form  
 This shows the relationship between the two castings and the form.
     
ready to pour the plaster mold The Master is almost ready for pouring the first half of the plaster mold.

The plaster is a special type made for casting, called #1 pottery plaster.
     
The first plaster mold is complete! With luck it will make between 50 and 75 castings before it's worn out. completed plaster mold
     
plaster mold opened up The two halves of the mold.
     
The mold is filled with a special liquid clay called slip to make the casting. slip poured in plaster mold
     
casting slip in a bucket  
 Stoneware casting slip.

It looks just like mud, but actually it's very specially formulated. If everything isn't perfect, it doesn't work, and you've got a mess!

I use two clays. One is gray when wet, and fires pure white. The second is reddish when wet, and fires to a light brown buff color.
     
After about four hours, the casting is ready to remove from the mold. The back has been smoothed and sponged off, and it has been marked in the clay dmhstudio.com. completed clay casting still in the mold
     
completed casting before trimming The casting has been removed from the mold. The bottom will be trimmed off, and the piece will be allowed to dry for a day.

Then the edges will be trimmed, the pathway cleaned, and any imperfections in the casting will be remedied. The back is also now marked with a unique studio serial number.
     
Cleaning the casting. clay casting being cleaned up
     
clay castings being slowly dried The pieces are dried very slowly and carefully to keep them from warping.
     
Depending on the weather, it can take from 7 to 14 days for a casting to dry. This stage is called "bone dry" greenware.

This means that all possible non-chemically bound water has evaporated. The piece is very fragile at this stage.

The remaining chemically bound water is driven off in the early stages of the bisque firing.		 bone dry clay labyrinth castings
     
loading the bisque firing Bone dry greenware being loaded in the kiln for the first "bisque" firing.

The bisque firing begins the ceramic conversion. It removes all remaining chemically bound water, and burns off all organic compounds that got in with the clay.

Because my clay is very fine grained or "tight bodied", I use a very long slow bisque firing to about 1950 degrees F. This firing lasts for about 20 hours.
     
Removing the bisqueware
from the kiln after the firing.		 removing the bisque fired ware
     
holding a bisque fired finger labyrinth  
 A bisque fired labyrinth.

At this point the piece is half way through the ceramic conversion.

It is still relatively soft and porous, which makes it perfect for accepting the glaze spray.
     
glaze sample tiles lined up in the studio

Developing glazes is an ongoing process. An obsession, an addiction...

I've done thousands of glaze tests. I keep the current ones out on the table so I can study them, and try to figure out where I'm going.

It's like studying a painting in process, but progress and results are much slower.

     

Sometimes
I feel like a rat
in a glaze maze...

 glaze tile maze up close
     
glaze spray booth Spraying glaze.
     
glazed finger labyrinths lined up  
 Here are some just glazed pieces. The color of the glaze spray doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the final color of the glaze when fired.
     
Loading the glaze firing. loading the glaze firing in the kiln
     
skutt electric kiln firing  
 My digitally controlled electric kiln almost finished with a glaze firing.

The digital controls allow me to program a complex 5 stage glaze firing process, including controlled "downfiring" after reaching peak temperature of about 2144 F.
     
red temperature display at 2131 degrees  
 Here's a cool available light shot of the temp display near peak.

Kind of eerie being in the blazing hot, pitch black studio, late at night, with only the illumination of the red lights shining...
     

Opening the glaze firing!

I've fired my kiln almost 500 times, and I still always eagerly look forward to opening the glaze firing, to see what the kiln has given me this time...

 opening the glaze firing
     
royal blue glaze fired finger labyrinth in the kiln

Sometimes you just get lucky, and everything comes perfectly together...

Chartres Finger Labyrinth
in Royal Blue

  After the glaze firing, the piece has completed the ceramic conversion. It is very hard and dense ("stoneware") and has shrunk about 13% from the size it was when it was originally made. If tapped, it rings like a bell!

With luck and some care, it should last for 10,000 years...

  
   
PostScript: ...and sometimes you don't get so lucky... This is what we call a classic "S" crack. It was probably caused by experimenting around with the drying process, trying to speed things up.

A wise man once said, "Accept what the kiln gives you."

The kiln never lies. It's supremely technical. If you make a mistake, it always tells you about it.

It has been a long and sometimes difficult process to learn how to make these labyrinths. But I'm sure you'll agree, that the beauty has been worth the pain...