The tree stump is actually a thrown cylinder that I then hand altered by adding the roots to it. The texture is hand carved and then black washed. You can't see the inside, but it also has hand carved rings in it too.  

You have to throw one bowl and wait for it to dry partially, the leather hard stage. At that stage it can support the weight better. Then you flip it over on the wheel, center it, scratch up the bottom so the new clay will stick and you put a lump of clay on top and then delicately center that. It is really hard not to let it collapse because if it gets too wet it will. Also if you put too much pressure on the new piece of clay it can make it collapse too.

I sort of had problems with that. What that picture doesn't show, is that there's actually a crack on the bottom of the bowl where I had to fix a part that broke through (which means I can't really use it for icecream, but I can use it for dry things - like m&ms!) The only thing that I can figure happened was when I was making it, I got the joining piece too wet and the pressure of me throwing it caused the first bowl's bottom to bulge out. Not knowing what had happened, I shaved off too much and it got too thin.

It's definitely a delicate balance - which is why my teacher made us do it this way, because it's a lot harder.
The easier way to do it is to just make 2 separate bowls and join them off the wheel.

Also, I think that crack is from firing it too much as well. I had the break fixed so that it wasn't noticeable but I had to put it through an extra firing because my colors weren't right after the first one and unfortunately....fi ring makes clay shrink, so the crack reappeared.     It's not the first time I've had something crack or break. If only you could see the underside of that octopus!! Those legs were a pain!!

Those are really awesome ideas!! I especially love the laptop and ipod cover.

Haha. Yeah....it's not the shape I would've chosen for an icecream bowl either...but that's just how it came out. I think the shape sort of looks like an egg cup for an ostrich egg.

It does.

But what exactly is quilting?? Is it a certain stitch you use or a certain pattern or way to attach fabric?? I guess I'm still fuzzy on the exact definition of a quilt - though I know one when I see one, I still don't understand what makes a quilt a quilt.

So this summer I've started on my first quilt. Its going to be a rather HUGE (5'x8') quilt because I want it to fit over an extra long twin mattress (for when I start college this fall). I thought I had everything planned out and in order but after browsing the topics in here, I feel like I'm unprepared. So I have some questions.

What is a walking foot and how necessary is it?? Is it expensive to buy one??
What does it mean to baste something?? How necessary is it?? How do you do it??
I don't understand anything about putting a finished edge on a quilt. What's the simplest way to do it??

Those are all the questions I can think of right now. I haven't even started sewing the quilt top so most of those things won't come up till much later, but I'm trying to be as prepared as possible and plan everything out. I'll have my mom to help me with this quilt  but she's a clothes sewer, I don't think she's ever made a quilt so I don't know how things'll go.

Thanks for the compliments!!
Most of these projects are ones I've completed recently - after I had time to develop my ceramic skills. 

I haven't been on here in forever so I've got lots of completed ceramic projects to update. I put most of them in my photo gallery but here are just a few of my favorites.

My Ice Cream Bowl
Made by throwing one bowl, letting it dry a little, flipping it over and throwing another bowl on top of it.


My Whale with a mustache


My octopus with a top hat


Porcelain Plate
Has crushed up glass melted in the bottom


Tree Stump


Snake Teapot


Sorry those last two are so blurry. It shows the difference in picture quality between an iPhone 4 and....all my past cell phones.

Hopefully this should link to the rest of my photo gallery, I've practically forgotten how to do anything because it's been so long since I've been on here: http://www.craftster.org/pictures/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=164952

Okay. So maybe I don't doodle like normal people. Sometimes I wind up with elaborate pictures. The only thing saddening about this is that my pictures are on notebook paper and not nice durable paper.

Here is some graffiti I did at the beginning of the year. The first word is my name "Emily S" then "Evolve" and the word on the side is "Independent". I did it in blue and black ink pen. I love pens...and graffiti 

(Sorry for the shadow)

This doddle/picture just started with a central image and sort of expanded from there. Its sort of like and "I spy". Can you find the banana? The stapler? The flower? The eyes?


Answers:


And here is a solar system. Drawn entirely with black ink pen. The picture above inspired me to draw this picture.


And here is a little cartoon guy. He is supposed to be a creepy hotel manager but he wound up looking more cute than creepy. He is saying "May I show you to your room?" and then at the very bottom he says "watch out for the rats".

I take art during school and I've finally decided to post pictures of some of my completed projects on here.

This is a string project that we did at the beginning of the year. We had to make a picture completely out of lines of string. It took around 2 months i think.


The graffiti says "revolution". Graffiti is really hard to do with string i found out.


This is a color wheel I had to do. It was to practice mixing colors with paint and all that. The colors are a little off looking in this picture. I promise it looks better in real life.


This is a monochromatic picture. Everything is in shades of blue. It took forever because I had to trace every single square and then hand paint every single square. There are also words in the bottom right-hand corner. It says "I love you" "Always and forever.


I was disappointed though because the words are a little difficult to see.



Sorry the pictures are kind of blurry. I took them with my cell phone and you know, I don't have fancy equipment and stuff to make them look prettier.