Coil Mug
For this project the expectation was to create a mug using coil technique, that's a part of a set of dishes. Each dish had to have a unifying element, and we chose for them all to be inspired by a certain season. One was winter, one fall, one spring, and summer. I also had to use four different types of coils to create diversity in texture, and have a minimum size of 8 inches tall and 4 inches wide. My mug was inspired by fall. I used elements such as color, texture, form, and shape to contribute to my theme. I used a combination of underglaze and regular glaze to color my pot orange, green, and purple. I used clay to form coils to build my pot, and used the element of shape to make a pumpkin shaped coil. Another one of the expectations was to make sure my pot was usable and food-safe, which I did, sealing all cracks and using food-safe glazes. Overall I met my expectations of this project, and created something unique.
Double Pinch Pot Sculpture
For this project I was expected to create a sculpture using 2 attached pinch pot forms. For my sculpture I created a cactus with flowers, a cowboy boot, and a cowboy hat attached. I had to choose one element of the sculpture and emphasize it using the elements of art. My emphasized piece was the flowers on my sculpture. I emphasized them using color, as I glazed them with brighter colors, and glazed the rest in a more neutral color palette. I glazed my cactus a muted green, my boot and hat a leather brown, and my flowers bright yellow, purple, and pink. I also had to use texture to add to the sculpture, which I did by adding and subtracting clay from my flowers. Another one of my expectations was to create the shapes, and properly scratch and attach the clay. I also did this, as well as smoothing everything else out, and making my attachments seamless.
Slab Box
For this project I used clay slabs to construct a slab box. To add depth to the surface, I used additive texture for the bow and ribbons, and the pearl necklace feet. I used the subtractive texture for the folds on the ribbon, and the parts where the ribbon is going into the box. There is movement on all 4 sides that can be seen in the ribbon curling in and out of the box. I am proud and confident in the way I created the bow to be droop like a real bow. One challenge I faced during this process was the walls of the box caving in, however I overcame the by cutting open the top and reinforcing the walls with coils. Through the process of creating my box I learned that I need to be extra careful when using glaze, and I need to be more patient during construction and glazing. If I was going to create my box again I would add ribbons to the inside of the box too, and I would be more careful and patient with my work.
Jaguar Bust
For this project I created a bust of a jaguar. My jaguar's name is Clarissa and she's a political statement on the issue of poaching in our society. Even though we don't talk about it that much, poaching is still relevant today and needs to be stopped. This project is my way of raising awareness for it. I created her using standard proportion, and bisque fire clay. To build the bust I started by creating an oval structure with clay slabs, then building it up into a head and shoulders. I then went on to create a base of the face using blobs of clay to build up the chin, mouth, nose, eyebrows, and eyes. Then I added detail to the face to actually create facial features. Then I created the ears and started carving out the spots. I faced a very big challenge, however, when my bust was fired, its face and back broke off due to too much clay piled up. Even though this was a setback, I fixed the breaks with glue and spackle, and even made the cracks look like bloody gashes. I then used acrylic paint to color it, and went over some spots with modge podge to make it shiny. Overall I'm really proud of this project and what it represents.
Ceramics Portfolio
Keep One Gift One Unified Bowl Set
For this project we were required to make a unified bowl set. One of them was to keep and the other was to donate to the austin empty bowl project. The requirements were to have one unifying element on both bowls, double layered glaze, use either sgraffito or underglaze decals, and slip trailing. My bowls unifying elements were flowers. For the first bowl, I made a scraffito flower on the inside of the bowl, and outlined it with slip trailing while double glazing the outside. For my second bowl, I created several small sgraffito flowers on the outside, while adding slip trail polka dots around it and using double layered glaze on the inside. We constructed the bowls using hump molds. My first bowl went perfectly and came out just like how I intended. However, the construction of my second bowl came out slightly unbalanced and did not look quite like how I wanted it to look. If I were to do this project again, I would have paid more attention to construction and making the clay even throughout the bowls.
