Unit 6 Projects:
Whimsical House:
Plan:
- Wedge clay
- Roll a slab
- Make a cylinder, bevel cut, and then score and slip the edges together
- Slip and score the cylinder onto the base
- Using a signing tool outline the windows and door of the house
- Roll a coil to make a vine, make a pot for the vine as well to put next to the door
- Roll small coils to add flowers to the vine
- Make a small dish to be a pond for the back of the house
- Make a small koi fish and score and slip the fish into the pond
- Cut out lots of small stones from the slab to make a stone pathway up to the house and to line each of the windows
- Roll another slab and place it into a bowl to form the roof of the house
- Underglaze the house and roof blue, the door red, the windows yellow with black lines, the ground and the vine green, the stones grey, and the pot brown
- Underglaze gray clouds on the house
- Put initials on the bottom of the house
- Fire!
- Clear glaze, glaze the inside with the crystal glaze
- Fire again!
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Overall, I am very happy with how my house came out. The house is very cute and useful as well. I think that the clouds look really cool on the house. I think that I could have improved upon the smaller details, such as the vine and the pathway. I also think that the inside could have been executed more cleanly. However, I think that overall the piece looks really good. There was some issues with the flowers falling off due to the clay being too dry. I realized that I really enjoy creating really cute things with dual purpose. I am very excited to bring it home and show my family.
Advanced Large Sculpture:
Plan:
- Wedge clay
- Roll out three balls of clay
- Shape each ball into a rounded rectangle
- Smooth out each penguin
- Make 6 wings and score and slip each one on to the sides of the penguins
- Make 3 beaks and slip and score each one onto the penguins
- Make 6 feet and slip and score each pair on to the bottoms of the penguins
- Hollow out each penguin and slip and score them on top of each other
- Underglaze all of the beaks and feet with orange underglaze
- Glaze the backs of the penguins black
- Glaze the stomachs of the penguins white
- Glaze a white circle with a black dot for each eye on the penguins
- Write my name on the bottom of the penguins
- Fire
- Glaze with clear glaze
- Fire again
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I am really happy with how my penguins turned out. The stack of three looks really cute and I am excited for it to come out of the kiln again. I am going to clear glaze the stack to make them shiny. One problem I had was ensuring that the tower did not fall over and that it stayed balanced. The tower turned out pretty good balance wise and stands really well. Overall I am very happy with it and am excited to put it in my room.
Tea Pot:
Plan:
- Wedge clay
- Roll slab
- Cut out each side of the tea pot and the spout of the tea pot
- Bevel cut each side of the walls and slip and score them together
- Smooth out each side of the tea pot
- Connect the spout to the main part of the tea pot
- Make a lid with a ball for a handle
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I ended up scraping my tea pot and putting it in the slop bucket. I did not like how it turned out whatsoever and knew if I fired it I would not use it. However, in making the teapot I learned that the clay should be thinner to make it easier to connect the spout and to make a hole to ensure the spout can actually pour. I also learned that making a somewhat unconventional shape for a teapot, a square, makes the process more difficult. I think that making the teapot taught me about ensuring that I plan my pieces out completely before jumping in to make them.
Organic Shape:
Plan:
- Wedge clay
- Roll two balls of clay
- Make each ball into a slightly curved, rounded shape
- Make two sets of wings
- Slip and score each set onto the penguins
- Make two sets of feet and slip and score each set onto the penguins
- Make two beaks and slip and score them onto the penguins
- Underglaze the backs of the penguins black
- Underglaze the stomachs of the penguins white
- Underglaze the beaks orange and the feet orange
- Underglaze two white circles with black pupils for eyes
- Underglaze two red hearts on the inside wings
- Carve name in the bottom of each penguin
- Fire
- Glaze with clear glaze
- Fire again
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I am very happy with how my penguins came out. They are very cute and I am really happy that they turned out so good. One issue I had was the beak and the feet falling off while I was underglazing it. I ended up slipping and scoring them back on and they held. I am very excited about giving them to my girlfriend. I think that she will really like them and I am very excited about it.
Choice Project/Interseting Foot:
Plan:
- Wedge clay
- Roll a slab
- Cut a rectangle out of the slab and curve the edges up
- Roll four coils (two long, two short) and slip and score them on the base of the dish to make a foot
- Carve name in the base of the dish
- Gather a variety of colors of underglaze, including blues, greens, pinks, and oranges​
- Start by glazing the ocean with blue and layering more shades of blue on top to create the depth
- Glaze the sun on top of the ocean
- Starting with orange, create a sunset in the sky at the top of the dish
- Glaze the edges of the piece with dark blue underglaze
- Glaze the foot with dark blue underglaze
- Fire
- Clear glaze the top and sides of the piece
- Using the exploding crystal glaze glaze the bottom of the piece
- Fire again
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I am very excited to glaze my dish. I have made quite a few of this type of tray this year and so far they have all turned out relatively good. I am very happy with how the sunset turned out. I think that I could have spent more time on the ocean because it is a little patchy with the different colors but it still looks good. The bottom will look really cool with the contrast of the foot and the exploding glaze. Overall I am very happy with how it turned out and am excited to see how it looks once it comes out of the kiln.