Planning and Construction

To get a feel for the handle's shape and for working with clay in general, I started off by using paper clay. The paper clay was much more malleable and easier to work with, allowing me to adjust my design as I went along with little resistance. From the paper clay modeling I found my desired dimensions and worked on different methods of putting on the ridges in my design. I tried methods such as rolling out thin lines of clay and etching it out on a thicker pad (pictured below) however neither produced the desired level of precision. Instead I tried out rods of piano wire. While the piano wire was very thin and would produce the texture I was looking for, it was incredibly hard to cut precisely or sand and so it yielded a very messy look. Also my cut wire was thrown out during a working session and I didn't feel like cutting more.