Blog 2

This week certainly was a ceramics week. I started making some headway on my cups and on my first project, which I finished and we had a critique on Thursday. It took me the majority of a time to come of with an appropriate idea for a project based on how the story made me feel. I am quite satisfied with the results and I am eagerly awaiting for them to dry and be bisqued so I can pick out some glazes. As you can see in the pictures, I made a set of tombstones for the animals that I have hit with my car. I am not doing this because I feel guilty for hitting them with the car, but rather to remind the universe that they were here.

The surfaces of each of these were smoothed out (except where I intentionally added texture on the sides of the two laying down) and then carved the name of each type of animal into the front. I could have made up a name for the animals, or I could have put in memory of a bird, but I thought it would be pretty evident that it was in memory of a bird the way I presented it. Besides that, I think this also serves as a memorial to all the animals who are hit, and then ignored by all passing traffic.

I'm not sure yet, but Miranda suggested that I rub stain into the texture on the side and into the lettering. I might do a few test pieces to see what looks best before I go and glaze the whole thing.










Here is all of them completed.













I feel much more confident on the wheel now. I am just getting started, but at least I'm starting to get the basics of how to do it. I found that it was easier to learn how to center with the porcelain than with the stoneware.









Here are the six porcelain vessels and two stoneware vessels I made, and one that I found laying around that nobody will claim, so I'm going to use it as a tester. My ultimate goal on the wheel this semester is to make a respectable beer stein. I've got a long way to go...till next time.