Unit Five and six
Artist Inspired - William Morris
Pueblo Piece
William Morris was born in England in the 1800's and founded the Arts and Crafts movement there. He was inspired by nature which is reflected in his work. He is well known for his fabrics and wallpapers designs.
Living where we do I was also inspired by nature and natural geometry. I wanted to use the repeated geometry of honeycomb as my William Morris inspired piece.
THE PLAN
- Wedge the clay
- Rolled and smoothed clay until it was flat and even
- Silicon mold for pattern
- fire
- glaze
- use a dark rich glaze color to represent the dark amber colored honey the bees produce here
Pueblo pot - inspired by the traditional indigenous art from the South West. I used the traditional pinch method and kept the design and colors in line with the typical colors used.
THE PLAN
-- wedge the clay
- shape into ball
- push thumbs into center
- pinch the walls of the pot
- even walls out
- fire
- glaze using traditional pueblo colors.
Hanging Ceramic
I chose to design a ceramic piece that could be hung on a wall and used as storage for whatever I might need
THE PLAN
- wedge the clay
- roll clay
- cut the heart shape using a template
- even thickness of clay
- fire
- glaze
Mug for Wellness Center
Choice Piece - ring dish
This was a great project, we were asked to make mugs for our new Wellness Center. I wanted to create a mug that felt solid when you held it and wanted to use a more neutral color to glaze it. I used the pinch pot technique. If I had a chance to make more mugs, I would definitely work on making the walls of the mug a little slimmer.
THE PLAN
- wedge the clay
- use thumbs to create the indent in the center of the clay
- pinch the walls of mug
- create flat base of mug
- form the handle - C shape
- attach handle using score and slip
- fire
- glaze (food safe)
For my free choice piece I needed to make something functional. This small dish could be used for jewelry or storage of something like paperclips on a desk. I wanted to use a simple pattern design and used a mid blue glaze for the polka dots. I enjoy making small pieces with small details in the decoration.
THE PLAN
- wedge the clay
- use the pinch pot method to create the dish
- used thumbs to make the central indent
- worked on the sides on the dish
- flattened the bottom of the dish
- fired
- glaze in white with blue Polka dots
Something Useful - coaster
I made a coaster for my, something useful project. I wanted to make an item I knew would be used at home and a coaster that would be large enough to fit the largest sized mugs we have. I used a light colored glaze with some bright colors for the pattern.
THE PLAN
- wedge the clay
- used the slab roller to roll and flatten the clay
- shaped a small rim - told hold any drink spills
- fire
- glaze
Bust - The Chef
For the bust project, I chose a chef, inspired from watching some cooking shows. I enjoyed some of the processes, but creating the hair and attaching it was hard and the strands kept breaking before and after firing. I would definitely plan to create the hair in a different way in the future.
THE PLAN
- wedge the clay
- make the head - form a circle shape and hollow it
- form facial features and score and slip them to head
- make the chef hat
- form the shoulders and torso from the final piece of clay
- roll the hair strands
- score and slip the hair to head
- score and slip the head to shoulders
- score and slip the hat to head
- fire
- glaze
Final Project - Candy Plate
For my final project I made a plate to serve food/treats. I had candy in mind when I planned the design. Decorating it with colors to make it bright and fun.
THE PLAN
- wedge the clay
- use slab roller to flatten and smooth clay
- shape the plate
- fire
- glaze using bright colors