Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Week 14





Week 14 done and over there is one more week of classes. Everything is slowing down as it is the end of the semester. All I had left to complete was glazing a handful of bowls and three project pieces. My test tiles, grapefruit bowl, and no base project. I glazed those on Wednesday and do not yet know how they have turned out but hoping to see them on Monday. I am worried about my no base not turning out right as it was just a hard project for me to do but I did the best I could with a hard topic for me. The wood fire was canceled for lack of work to put in the firing, so a soda firing was done instead. My test tiles went in this firing, but my bowls did not, I decided to leave those on the cart for a wood fire in the future. Monday, I get to see the results of my projects and it is mandatory cleanup day. Then final crit on the following Monday. Fingers crossed!

Update: everything came out for the most part perfect. My test tiles look good, my no base came out perfect, the first picture is my experiment with frit in the bottom of my bowl, and the glaze turned out beautiful on my grape fruit bowl. The only grip I have is a decent sized crack in the bottom of one of the grapefruit bowls. Outside of that I am excited for crit on Monday! 

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Week 13

Week 13.  I did not go to class Monday
but I am ok with that since I have
 very little left and the wet clay cut
off is the next day. I came in for an
hour maybe to finish my no base
and cleaned it up on Wednesday.
We did critiques on Wednesday as
well and got to see some beautiful
pieces. I finished class by glazing
my grapefruit bowl and wading for
wood fire. Then one more week to
glaze and glaze fire all my bowls and
cups. Hopefully everything goes smoothly for the end of the semester.

Week 12

Week 12. There are only 4 weeks left in the semester and I have three assignments to complete. My fantasy function, no base, and test tiles. Class was canceled on Monday but I came in for about 3 hours to try to finish some of these. I did not finish any but did come close to finishing my fantasy function grapefruit bowl and jewelry box. I think I will submit my bowl because so far I like it more than my jewelry box. Wednesday I finished my Fantasy functions and started my no base building. I just need to finish building a few more elements and I will be done with building. I plan to finish this next Monday and glaze next Wednesday if all goes as planed.


Monday, April 1, 2019

Week 11

So far this week has been vastly more productive than last week. It is nice to have been all in on building. I came in early to class for about two hours and busted out bowls for my colander, grapefruit bowl, and the no base thrown vessels. I nearly completed my  grapefruit bowl Sydney suggested a handle and I agree so I just have to add that and I'm done. I finally determined my no base project and I'm stress but excited to see how it turns out. I have the base pieces set up for it which are three thrown cylinders and three slabs that will encase the vessels. After that is all put together the detail work and the work the promotes no base will begin and almost every aspect will have a function. Those are the last of projects and I would like to throw a few more bowls before the end of the semester to try the crystal effect in and that's all I have on my lists to make. Very excited.


Monday, March 18, 2019

Week 10



It is now week ten. We had our midterm critiques, personally mine was over the stump for Apologia. My critiques all centered around how they wanted more in the structures around the stump. They suggested more vines and add detail, more roots, more bisque pieces throughout the raw clay pieces, and even gather trash from a forest to add into it. None of this am I necessarily against, I agree to some extent but I don't think I will resubmit my sculpture. The point is to bring out the struggle between nature and humans and our great love for nature. I almost feel like the motivation I hope to bring with this to go out into the woods or a park or somewhere to enjoy and appreciate nature would be diminished.  I'm also quite satisfied with what I submitted. We also were introduced to the last of the glaze clac project, that of which I am honestly a little confused on. We are also to be starting our fantasy function project at the same time. I chose to start this on Wednesday when we were also introduced to No Base project. Looks like I will be spending quite a bit of time on the wheel.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Week 9


Week nine is a bit of a slow week. Personally I did not attend Monday class and Wednesday class was canceled. I did however go in on Tuesday to trim bowls and finish preparing for my midterm. Which thankfully was pushed back another week because as it is in a finished bisque wear state does not seem finished. So Sunday I'll be back in to install it and clean up any parts that need it. For the next project I have committed to the jewelry box and the grapefruit bowl. I might try to build a few other of my top picks if these don't pan out or I feel they don't measure up.  My test tiles for the triaxial test came out and they aren't really what I expected. I was hoping for more of a change from tile to tile instead they all seem relatively the same. I think I should've gone up by threes instead of ones and maybe messed with a colorant. I still enjoy the glaze as is but was just looking for a more shocking kind of change versus the subtle to no existent change.

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Week 8

Week 8 so far is a little boring. We were introduced to the new project "Fantasy Function" and I still don't have a solid design for it. I still might try a better ash tray but a peer helped me think up a jewelry organizer idea that I might run with. In the mean time I threw a few bowls to help me think. On Wednesday we reviewed glaze calc notes and looked at our fusion tests. At the end we discussed our ideas for the new project and came up with the final 4 that I would like to do. My idea for a jewelry box is my top pick at the moment. I honestly think I'll make the top three picks and see which I like more and submit that. Monday I have to set up my installation for Wednesday critiques and Apologia will be done.  We also have a quiz on Wednesday that I probably should study a bit more to get a better understanding of terms and the materials associated with them. That's about it for this week.

Monday, February 25, 2019

Week 7

Week 7 has come and gone. This week was dedicated to finishing the line blend and triaxial tests. Personally I love the result of my glaze and wouldn't mind remixing the base glaze to use. It has some crazing which is something I am fond of in utilitarian pieces, particularly mugs. The resulting glaze is something similar to a glaze I was hoping to make. My favorite glaze from high school was gun metal green and now I have a very gun metal-ly glaze with blue undertones. I finished my triaxials on Sunday night so I have yet to find out what the results look like. My test variables ended up being wood ash, soda ash, and frit 3195. Hopefully these increase the crazing and running in the glaze and it doesn't look horrible. If they don't come out as expected I might try and make a whole new glaze that I have my eye on. I believe we have at least one more kind of glaze test to do and we are being introduced to our new project. My initial idea is to make a more efficient and eye pleasing ash tray but I'm not sure if I will stick with it or possibly make two ideas for this project. As for Apologia it is ready to go into the kiln after that I will get to do the installation.




Saturday, February 23, 2019

Week 5



It is now week five of this semester. We are being introduced into glaze chemistry it is a little confusing and scary but very exciting. I appreciate the freedom we are being given to make our own glazes and alter it. The triaxials seem to be the most difficult but also where we get the most freedom to experiment so over all I am pretty excited to work on this project. I am still wrapping up Apologia I think I will be finished with it this week and do the installation parts after the base is fired. The top or the cup part of the sculpture result is really beautiful and to me. Truly I am pleased with this sculpture and at this point I hope it makes it through the kiln.  I am going to leave it wrapped up just to make sure I'm not missing anything I want from this sculpture  as well as clean up the last bits that need attention.  Other than that I need to look at types of glazes I would like to do for glaze chemistry and throw some cups or bowls to use my glaze on.

Week 6

Week six. We are fully immersed in glaze chemistry it is a little overwhelming with all the new terms the readings help though, not as much as talking with my professor and peers. We made our test tiles last week and are doing fusion and line blend tests this week. The fusion tests from other classes has struck some curiosity in me with the "frits" I hope to get to use this in my pottery weather its a new glaze I make or something else I am not sure. The fusion tests are fun and a bit satisfying with the perfect little balls of powder in each tile. I am not able to do my line blend tests yet because my test tiles are in the kiln for a bisque fire so instead I decided to throw on the wheel and do some research on what glaze I would like to make. I also did the final touches on my stump and decided to leave it wrapped for one more week so I can watch it a little closer throughout the school week. 



Monday, February 18, 2019

Week 4

 Its week four and I didn't get much done this week as school was called off on Wednesday which none of this I mind as I think I'm at a good slow down point.  I have all the vine work done on the stump some spots just might need a good clean up and that's about it. I did however start looking at where to install my piece. I think in one of the corners under the stairs or the window at the end of the hall or even off the loading dock.  The progression of my cup this week is the most interesting of the progressions this far. Other than adding a porcelain rose or two is all that I might add to the base piece and then I think it would feel complete. After those are attached and fired all I will have left is to make more roses, mushrooms, and vine work to extend from the base piece. These I am considering of leaving completely raw to accent the stump piece.  I think I will do all of these in one class period for installation.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Week 3

     It is now week 3 it is a short week with only one day of class, I stopped in over the break to make sure everything was looking okay and at the right moisture levels but did not really have time to progress on the project. I am really loving where it is right now so I am sitting on where it is for a minute. I am considering adding color, add more organic forms to it or another thrown piece, or even a sculpture of a bird or fox.  I still don't know if I want it to have a use such as a planter or just have it as the sculpture it is. I also want to add more and make it like an adventure and every time you look at it you see something new but I don't want to over do it making it too busy and drowning out the really nice parts of it. So for class I decided to clean up what I already have and make it perfect to me before I really start adding more to it. I did throw a good sized bowl last week to fit the stump but decided it have better attachment points if i put it on the root verses the side of the stump itself.  I also added some vine work which I think I will continue to expand on where I put roses otherwise the look like they were inorganically stuck on to the stump. I also added rings of life to the inside of the stump and apparently did not capture stage two of my teacup. I'm still loving the progress though and with help from the critiques I decided to not put color on it and leave it as a raw clay piece.
Stage three



Week 2

     It is now week 2, last week I achieved a bowl the size I need for the tree stumps base and attached the roots to it. So far it has the overall presence I am wanting for it but now I need to figure out how to do the tree bark texture. The tree texture mat in the studio is no where to be found and not an actual bark texture so I get to experiment to find the right tree bark texture I want. The tea cup I made for the top of the stump dried out too fast so with the help of my professor I decided to use it as an extension of the project by putting it on the "lid" of the tree stump and wetting it down everyday I work on the stump to show the break down as the nature part of my project progresses. I watched a few YouTube videos to figure out the bark texture and got advice form a peer, I have to say I really love the texture that has been produced. I already started building some mushrooms and black roses to go on the stump but the bowl that I threw for it is a bit over bearing and needs to be sized down quite a bit. I decided to throw a few different sizes and will see whats best to attach after the break.

First stage of teacup


Week 1

       First week back in ceramics we mixed quite a bit of clay, discussed the syllabus, and projects for the semester.  I'm excited and look forward to what required and non required projects I will get to make this semester. The first project is Apologia and I have a multitude of ideas for it. We are to do the project over what we have an admiration for as well as the excerpt from the Apologia story. My admiration is for the concept of nature and humans in it. This is the start and reference images for my project. It is now the second day of week 1 I'm starting to build some of the ideas I have for Apologia. I am a little stuck on how to build the base of the tree stump, if it should be slab or thrown, I think if I can throw a bowl the right size that would be the best option. My first couple attempts for the bowl were a bit of a flop but I did get a few other things for this project thrown. I think I did get a viable bowl for the base of this project I attached a "root" to it and it seems that it is around the size and shape I am looking for.