Unit 1+2 Projects

Stamp

Plan: This was my first time with clay, so my main goal with my stamp was to get used to the tools and how they interact with clay, along with how the clay works itself.
Reflection: While working on the stamp, I learned a number of things, such as how the consistency of clay can change over time, how to connect two pieces of clay together with water and scoring, and which tools to use depending on the size and shape of the piece. But the main thing I learned came from the very end, as I ended up dropping my stamp of the floor. Although my plan ended up with no result, the process itself was valuable enough; I learned that even the process of failure can be valuable.

Clay Face

Plan: This piece I wanted to approach differently than last, this time i wanted to rely on sculpting with my hands rather than tools, which I heavily used last time.
Reflection: Using almost purely my hands allowed me to become very familiar with the clay, and I started to understand how to bend and shape the clay into what I envisioned. The process was a lot smoother than with the stamp, the only thing I wish I had put more time into was smoothing the face, as the final product ended up being rough and had some jagged edges, this gave me a goal to work on for my next project.

Small under-glaze piece

Plan: Using a stump molded plate, I planned to have most of the pieces work on the under-glaze, as it seemed a key skill to be able to work with glaze and underglaze on a piece.
Reflection: Using a slump mold went smoothly, although I did have a corner of the plate a bit too thin compared to the others, and it gave me the insight to always check the surface and shape of my pieces later. The underglaze was easy to adapt to, and although there was some trouble with applying underglazes of different colors close to each other, it ended up working well. One thing that became apparent when the piece was bisk fired, was that I hadn’t put a white coat down before applying the design, which resulted in the plate being an off white peach color, while I had envisioned the design with a white base.