MP1 Finished pieces

I will have pictures soon, but the teapot set I made is at a competition right now.  The hardest part I had with this white stoneware semi-circular teapot piece was smoothing the slabs so that they flowed together w/o seams.

3rd Marking Period

Works in Progress

Pic!!

This is my human form piece.  The body of the vessel of two thrown forms that I make to fit one on top of the other.  The lid is also wheel thrown and was the most technically difficult part of the piece due to the fact that the shape had to be trimmed out of the piece I had to throw.  I then threw the knob on top of that and attached coils for handles.  I think it's pretty clear how this relates to the human form.  This is all done in white stoneware.

I'm still glazing many of the pieces from the second marking period, but I do have two pieces that I'm excited to show you!

This is the finished product of the architecture concentration.  I used a pagoda form, more specifically the Temple of Heaven.  I really like how the pieces stack and can be taken apart, however some of the measurements got messed up, so the bottoms don't match the lid they sit on as well as I'd like.  I really admire Chinese architecture so I especially enjoyed creating this.  I tried to represent color patterns often seen in Chinese work which is why the piece is black and red.

This is the 3rd try of this piece (I broke the first 2) so needless to say I was very relived when I was finally done with this teapot.  This was for my parabolic motion concentration, and you can see that most vividly in the large handle, but also in the body and lid.  The handle was a real pain to get on the the hardest thing was the spout.  Getting the right length and circumference while still making it usable was really hard (the handle broke off once and I had to glue it so it doesn't work now anyway).  I like to unique shape of this piece and thought the glaze came out really well.

My final goals for this year are to do more with the surface of my pieces and to develop more depth in the concentration or message I'm working with  So can't wait to show you what I do next.

MP2 Projects

Unfortunately I only have one glazed piece to share with you but I have been working on a bunch of different stuff, so here goes:

Teapot-

Sorry about the glare, it was in a display case.  This was my first project of the year, and I love way it came out (design and glaze) and I was very happy to have such a good start to the year.  The creamer isn't functional but the rest is, but I probably won't use it.  The platter for the sugar and creamer isn't glazed, so it didn't get in the picture.  This was an all white stoneware, all hand-building piece, and the handle was made with a coil extruder.

Pagoda (architecture focus)-

I was especially excited for this project's design.  Each piece you see above is a lidded jar, but they vary from large to small, and the smallest has a pointed lid instead of on with a flat top.  The stack on top of each other to make a pagoda like structure.  These forms were thrown and trimmed on the wheel, no hand-building involved, and consists of all white stoneware.  I decided to go with no designs, just a simple surface, but I could definitely be persuaded otherwise with the right idea.  Overall the concept wasn't that complex, but I had to carefully measure each piece to make sure they would fit together nicely.  I am using black (black Ice by Amacco) and red (oxblood by Amacco) to glaze it. 

Parabolic motion concentration (Spheres)-

This project is part of my own concentration, parabolic motion (incorporating parbola like elements to create movement).  It is a two part project, the spheres made from the thicker coils are a decorative set of four (one is in the kiln) that will be glazed different colors and used as decoration.  The spheres made of thinner coils are part of a degression (opposite of a progression), each one being more broken than the last.  I have my ideas on its meaning and significance, but I want the viewer to take away what they get out of the piece, and for that reason will not tell you what I think of it.  I really like the negative space, and shape used in these pieces.  I had to come up with a way to get the coils to dry in the spherical position, so I wrapped the wet coils around a balloon and set it in a bowl to dry, but you have to pop the balloon while the coils are leather-hard or they shrink and crack (an issue I ran into).  Obviously this is a completely hand-built project.  I like the two components this project has, and am excited to see how it turns out.  

Parabolic motion (teapot)-

So I had this project completely finished, but I broke it while it was bone-dry :( .  So the flying saucer looking thing is the base and the up-side-down bowl is the lid.  The handle is what I'm holding up for you to see (it's not yet attached).  The spout will be a traditional looking semi-long wheel thrown piece that will go perpendicular to the handle instead of the traditional, parallel, relationship.  Then there will be a little loop of coil attached to the other side to pull the teapot back by in order to pour it.  I really like the handle, but it's a little tricky getting it on there.  You have to dry it out a little, then shape it, and dry it, and shape it, then you get to VERY CAREFULLY attach it to the teapot.  The base, lid, and spout are all thrown, so there is a nice mixture of hand-building and throwing here, for anyone who like to do both.  I really like to form, and hope I don't break this one (I may cry).