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Welcome to my blog. Over the years that I have been stamping and paper crafting, I have so often been inspired by the ideas on other sites and blogs. I hope I can pay that back in some measure with my own. (In between laughs -- or cackles as my son calls it!)

December 12, 2015

My Ceramics 1 Class


I wanted to share everything we did in my Ceramics 1 class at COD in Fall 2015.  Our instructor was Marina Kuchinski.  I learned so much in this class, and really enjoyed the medium of clay.  This will basically be a listing of projects with photos.  I'll show the items after the raw clay construction phase, and then again after glazing.  I really enjoyed this experience.

Project 1:  Geometric & Organic shapes -- at least 18" tall (Handbuilding)
I used the slab technique with coils and carving on these.  I used stains (not glazes).






Project 2:  Representational (realistic) and Large Scale  (Handbuilding)
I call this my "Ode to Shadow"
The large tennis ball was formed by a slab around a playground ball and textured with slip.
The stick started as an extruded coil and was then carved.
The German Shepherd was carved.
A combination of stains and glazes was used.



Project 3:  Cylinders thrown on the Wheel
I was having trouble picking up the wheel skills.  Very challenging for me.  All my cylinders were short and with imperfect form.







Project 4:  Drinking Vessels thrown on the Wheel
(The assignment was one for Coffee/Tea, Milk, Water, Wine and Sculptural)













Water:


Wine:


Milk (inspired by the book "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie"):


Sculptural: #1:  Cityscape Killing a Tree
This piece had a cylinder base.  I built a city skyline with slabs and stencil impressions.  Then I put a dead tree in the middle.  It had a social commentary message.  The glazing on this turned out so awful I'm not even going to show it.




















#2:  Calla Lily (inspired by Mom's love of lillies)
This started as a very lopsided thrown cup which was then added to with handbuilding techniques.
Glazed in white, celadon and taffy.




















Project 5:  Bowls and Plate thrown on the Wheel
The assignment for the first plate was to used the scraffito technique (cover with layers of slip and scratch through).  It had a social commentary theme of "deforestation".








The "hand" plate was a bonus and was done by tracing my hand; covering with black slip and Zentangle carving.  Finished with clear glaze.

 

Bowls -- all thrown on the wheel.
Timoku glaze and wax resist brushstrokes used on the dark ones.
Dip technique in celadon, long beach blue and teal used on the smaller bowls, with a portion left as natural clay.