I took a beginning ceramics class the first semester of my senior year and loved it so much that I took the next class second semester. The class met two days a week for about an hour each day. By the end of the semester we had to complete 6 projects: a whistle or closed container made of 2 pinch pots, 2 wheel-thrown pieces, a slab rolled piece, a molded piece, and a coil piece. At the end of the semester I ended up with 13 completed pieces, all made of red clay. On to the eye candy.
I made a tiny cottage out of two pinch pots instead of a whistle. I worked on this for at least a month straight, including coming in on my off hours. I'm pretty happy with it, and my teacher must have been too, because she carted it around most of the year to different art shows. All those little tiny flowers took forever to make and glaze. The house is only 3 inches high without the roof pieces.
My first wheel-thrown piece. I carved out little squares and then glazed them green, but the glaze filled in the squares so you can't even tell I carved it. It's about 3 inches high.
I carved my second wheel piece to look like dripping paint and glazed it purple and a really dark blue. About the same size as the green and blue one.
Wheel-thrown and extensively trimmed. I applied the bow after. The studio ran out of white glaze so I had to paint the bow with acrylic paint after the piece was fired. I kind of like how the bow isn't shiny though.
An unfortunate accident that I would rather forget. I threw the bowl but then accidentally trimmed through the bottom. I made a saucer thing so I could use it for plants. I glazed the lower half in light green and then put dark green leaves on top, but something happened in the firing process that made it all look like one color.
Wheel-thrown and glazed with blue opalescent. Pretty self explanatory.
Wheel-thrown, but rather lopsided. I really liked the watermelon design but it developed a sad crack in the bottom in the kiln.
This is one of my favorite pieces of the bunch. Wheel-thrown and then trimmed to have a really narrow foot, which is unfortunately not visible. The dots and foot are a charcoal color, along with the bottom of the bowl on the inside. I really liked how the white flecks in the red clay showed up. It makes me want to eat ice cream out of it.
A test plate for a mold that I made, but the corner broke off. I wasn't going to glaze it at all but at the last minute covered it in an opalescent glaze called 'autumn leaf' that doesn't remind me of fall AT ALL.
Slab rolled and then molded on the mold I made with plywood and old baseboard. I cut slits in it and stamped flowers to make it look like eyelet lace. After it was fired I put the ribbon in. I wanted it to be white, but the lack of white glaze made pink the next best alternative.
Another molded plate. The background is charcoal because the black was all gone. Each of the circles also has a different texture. I really like this piece too.
Slab rolled with the lines applied to be raised. I want to hang it on a wall, but am afraid that it would break. Charcoal and black without transparent glaze.
This is Otis the Octopus, made out of really old polymer clay that was in my basement. I tried to make butterfly wings out of coils, but they fell apart. Since there weren't any firings left I made Otis at home and my teacher was nice enough to give me credit for him.
I miss ceramics so much.
Comments and criticisms welcome.
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