3rd Quarter Project

The project I have been working on this quarter is cups on the wheel. An important part of finishing the cups is what happens after they are formed on the wheel. Directly after being on the wheel, cups are put on a wooden board to dry. It is good to remove the cups from the wooden boards once the bottom is firm enough to stay in place on it's own. If the cups are left on the boards for too long, they will dry out completely and then it will be impossible to trim the bottoms.

When making the cups, I mainly focused on shape and form because each cup needed to have a unique shape about it. I tried to put some element of movement in the shape to keep the eye traveling along the cup.

I learned a lot of things from this project, the biggest thing being patience. It took a long time for me to get used to making cups on the wheel and getting them tall enough. At one point I was really frustrated with myself, but I kept going and eventually I was able to get it. I also learned that the wheel is difficult and have gained an appreciation for how hard it is to make something that at first glance looks so simple.

This project was pretty interesting as is, and by interesting I mean hard, but one thing that could be added is a line design on at least one of the cups. But overall, it was fun and hopefully the end result will be a couple nice cups that can be useful around my house.

Here is a picture of some of my cups before I glazed them:

February Post

    I am currently working on the cup project, which requires 4 cups that hold around 10 oz to be made on the wheel. The cups should all have different shapes, not just cylinders with handles. At this point, I am almost done. The cup project was very difficult for me at the beginning, because I couldn't seem to keep the clay centered on the wheel. But, after a few days of destroying things, I started making some appropriately sized cups and the project has progressed quite well since. Another problem that I have had is using the rib to shape where the cup bulges and narrows.
    Making the handles and trimming the cups has come pretty easily to me. To make a handle, you get a thick coil of clay wet and gently pull it down over and over, rotating it every few pulls until it is the correct size and shape. Trimming makes the bottom of the cup look good, and it is done when the clay is leather hard.
    Here are pictures of three of my cups before glazing:

Also, my coasters have finally gone through the kiln! Here is the finished result: 

End of Semester One

The semester is coming to a close, and my candle holder has finally emerged from the depths of the kiln, looking more beautiful than ever. The two coats of Turkish Amber glaze shine like mud puddles after a rainy day. The glaze also soaked into the textured lines fairly well. The smooth cutouts of the phrase "Light a candle in the mind" stand out from the rough textured pieces. Here are the pics:

I was also had time to make an extra credit project in this unit. Coasters!! Personally, I think coasters are extremely fun and useful household devices. The name kind of reminds me of rollar coasters, and those are the best. Except, if you think about it, coasters and roller coasters have opposite purposes because one is meant to make things safer, while the other is supposed to make you feel unsafe and daring. Roller coasters are actually pretty safe, though. They always make sure to test them a lot before letting people on.

So, I put flower designs on my coasters because I am a girl who enjoys pretty, flowery things. They have not gone through their glaze firing yet, so it may be hard to see the patterns in this photo because of the clear glaze. Underneath the clear, there are different colored underglazes: (starting in the top left and going clockwise) red, yellow, white and purple. Hopefully they will show through after they've been fired. I'll be sure to post the pics!

Happy end of the semester! More importantly, this Friday is Lee-Jackson Day in the wonderful Commonwealth of Virginia, so bake yourself some Confederacy cake and have a good time.