Ground bisque ware .... turned to grog for clay Weave over clear plastic (canvas). Make slab with marble size holes. I think all other comments are even better. Love your experiments, makes me think of possibilities.
You know, those bisque rods would be great as diffuser sticks. A straight weave (lattice) is probably your best bet. It's easy to do using guide sticks since you can't fold back the clay. Fancier but easier in clay would be twining the weft. Twine both the weft and warp and the marbles won't ever move!
Cool. Where one lays on top of the other you could try to simply glue the bisqued pieces together, should hold long enough to get the glaze applied. The glue would burn off. Just have to make sure the glue doesn't act like a resist, and that nothing would shift after it does burn off. Could glaze them right on the shelf with a layer of newsprint underneath that you could slide out when dry, minimize carrying it around. Have you thought about using a marble to lightly press an indentation into the wet clay where you want them to stay? Not so much that it would be noticeable, but enough to keep the marbles from rolling off. Last thing. This would be cool to try, I think..... Take a bouquet of noodles, probably on the shorter scale, and set marbles in the forks. Maybe go with more of a narrower vase so the branches fit a bit more snug to hold the marbles in place.
If you run a roller over the pieces as they lay on top of each other it helps them to fuse to each other. Or press slightly at each cross point to join them. Like your finished vase piece
Could you just bisque the rods as separate pieces then only glaze the top layer. You’d only have glaze on either the horizontals or verticals depending on which direction is on top but you’d be able to glaze the whole rod and I bet it would still be a nice effect. I bet the glazed rods would stick well to the unglazed ones still.
How about making a thick piece of plaster (kind of like a thick tile) and then cutting on it a square pattern with an old saw blade maybe on the table saw or a circular saw if you have one, then build up four walls with more plaster and use slip on that mold to get your square pattern marble holder. At least that’s what I would try.
Lay out the bottom layer of coils & then give a good spray of water. Put a coil in place for the top, hold both ends, and ever so slightly move back and forth a bit, creating a micro layer of slurry. Then press down. OR lay out the bottom layer, good spray of water, lay out the top layer , then take a small finishing nail, pierce the center of each joint. If you like the look, keep it as is. If not, fill in hole with slip trailer,
Would it work if you weave your extruded project? edit: OH, never mind I now see you thought about it. I have woven similar pieces and they stay together nicely.
Maybe pour slip over the rods somehow, to make them stick together? You would have to put it on something that the slip can drain through, and then move it to the kiln without touching the rods or taking them off the thing. A barbecue rack, maybe?
Not sure what you fire bisque to, but If you are bisque firing at 04, use low fire glaze on the greenware joins. I use clear on greenware so my disabled students dont paint glaze on certain areas of pieces. After bisque, Then use a colored low fire glaze to finish off the piece. Then if you are firi g marbles at 014-015 it still shouldnt disturb the lowfire glaze.
serrated, lay first layer, paint contact area with slip, lay top layer and roll each back and forth a little to spread glaze into top cane serrations. probably better to paint the slip a few canes at a time.
