Author: kate1sc20

For this blog post I have been working on a slab type lamp with an octopus on the top of it.  I used the artistic behavior Artists Plan throughout planning how I was going to build my lamp.  I started planning by looking at pictures of similar styles online and came up with what I wanted to do.  Then started to sketch shape of the lamp and find the best way to position the octopus.  Next was creating a stencil for the slabs I would put together to create the shape.  Through this next process I used the artist behavior Artists Take Risks because I have never independently created a ceramic piece out of slabs.  I am still in the beginning part of getting the slabs put together properly and making sure they are sturdy.  When I first started to put the slabs together I was stressing out a little bit cause they were a little wobbly and I wasn’t sure if they were going to support each other like I hoped so.  Although I worried my slabs turned out fine but I still have to see how they support the octopus.

Throughout my ceramics career I have been improving through details in my pieces.  Every project I learn something new to create my pieces better and improve smoothing or shaping clay.  I also have weaknesses like making the top of circular lids like a vase even, somehow it always ends up bumpy even when I go over it with a metal scraper many times. I lack in the artistic behavior Artists Take Risks I usually end up making a vase or teapot, with coils. To become a better artist i need to take a risk and maybe try the wheel or make something unique with different techniques that are new to me.  Even though I haven’t taken the risks that I would like to, I have improves on my shaping skills of pots and cups. From the beginning of last year I have improved a lot on the precision of details applied to my art.  For the next quarter I want to explore new materials and dip into maybe working on the wheel or create an ambitious piece that requires slabs and other types of techniques.  I want to steer away from shaping pots or cups and try something new.  Doing the I will definitely use Artists Research because being prepared as much as I can for stepping out of my comfort zone will improve my artists making skills and make me a better artists.

I am still creating my teapot and teacup collection for this blog post.  I have started to create my second teacup I’m trying to make it the name shape as the rose embellished cup i just finished shaping. I am using the artist behavior, artists plan because I don’t know the type of colors I want to use for the colors on the rose teacup. I was thinking some like reds and pinks so i decided to test some colors out on test tiles. When I got them back I was happy with the way they turned out and am for sure going to use them.  Another artistic behavior, artists research was applied when looking for the type of flowers I was going to use for my next teacup. I have crossed many pretty ideas but nothing has stood out to me so far.  I think I am going to keep researching and find out the type of flower design that is the best to use.

For my most recent project I have been working on a teapot set with two teacups and one teapot. I used artists research for this project because I had to find out the type of shape I was going to make the pots so they would look good with the flower embellishment I was going to add. I made a stencil for my teacups and tea pot, but when I began shaping my pot with coils the stencil shape was too wide for the shape I had in my mind.  I used artists solve problems once I got to this point because I had to start over and create the teacups diameter much smaller so when I added the flower design it would look good.  After some trial and error, I shaped the teacup how I wanted it and added the flowers.  I didn’t exactly know what types of flowers to create and roses turned out the best when I added them to the cup. I am going to create two cups so for the next teacup I might make some type of daisy’s.

For my Trompleoi project I created an Elmer’s glue bottle. Throughout this challenge, I used the artistic skill Artists Reflect. I used this skill when I first started shaping clay into the shape of the glue bottle. At first I did not know how to create the shape similar to the body of the glue bottle. I used artists reflect by adding clay to certain parts of my clay bottle and reflected on how that affected the shape positively or negatively. After that I had to smooth out the sides of the bottle to make it resemble a glue bottle. Another artistic behavior I used was Artists use materials and tools in an appropriate and safe way. To create a realistic looking cap for the glue bottle I had to use many tools including a fettling knife and a needle tool. I had to be cautious to the detail of the cap because of the complexity of a natural glue cap. I created the shape of the cap and then added the ridges on the cap by making ingredients with needle tool. This project needed a lot of detail so I used many artistic behaviors.

For my fish slab that I made, I used the artistic behavior, artists reflect. Throughout my project a lot of detail went into creating the coral around the fish. I had to reflect on each coral piece to make sure it complimented all the other pieces. This was a little difficult due to how intricate coral is in the real world, but I focused on creating each piece as similar to real life coral as possible. I improved my artistic skills with trial and error by reflecting on how the coral pieces looked on the slab and asking myself what I could do next time to improve them. I think the most successful part of my project was a coral head I created because of the texture that I added to it. If i were to recreate this project I would probably make the fish a smaller ratio to the coral. I also used artists collaborate because of how Mary and I helped each other on our projects. We asked each other for out opinions to help us with details on our projects. I would ask her for ideas on how to create certain pieces of coral. For her tree she was making, I helped her with how she should position leaves on the branches. This helped me develop my artists collaborate artistic behavior.

For my tile with a fish on it I had to think about how each detail on the tile was bringing my fish to life. I also had to decide if i wanted my fish be more realistic or cartoon like. I decided to make it realistic and then look at the bigger picture on how each step I took was contributing to create my slab realistic. I used the artistic behavior, Artists Observe by observing my slab and the details I put on it to create an artistic real life look. I learned from trial and error during this project because i originally made my slab a decent thickness so I could carve into it and add details without any problems. I then rolled out another slab for my fish the same thickness as the original slab the fish would lay on. I realized that my fish was too elevated from the slab so I had to fix that. I used the artistic behavior, Artists Solve Problems to use this mistake as an opportunity to learn. I shaped the fish slab to make it thinner and create the fish thinner and thicker in certain areas to create it more realistic. Once I created the fish a better thickness it inspired me to create a lot of real life coral in the background on the slab.

I decided to create a zodiac wheel representing the astrology section as my assigned dewy decimal project. I used the artistic behaviors artists research and artists take risks. To begin my zodiac wheel I had to research images of zodiac signs and decide which designs I would carve into the clay and how I would make it look artistic and neat. While looking at pictures online there would usually be a star or lines in between the signs so I sketched the wheel with signs and then a star at the center. The next step was to transfer my research onto my clay work. I rolled out red earthen ware clay into slabs to create slabs for my wheel. I rolled out three slabs and traced a circle onto poster and then carved the clay using the poster stencil. The clay was wet and the circles were a little big. I decided to use my artistic skill artists take risks and attached the slabs and they caved in a little. I left for Hurricane Irma and when I came back it wasn’t in the condition I wanted it to be so I started over. For the second time I created my slabs thicker and my the size of the circle slabs smaller. When attaching the clay slabs they were in perfect condition. I then carved out zodiac signs and placed them on the outer edge of the wheel. This project included going out of my comfort zone and applying my research skills to make the zodiac wheel organized.

 

 

 

For creating a letter my sister Mary and I chose the letter B. Before rolling out the slabs for the B, we had to use one of our artistic skills, artists plan. In order to create the right dimension for the B to stand up we had to make the walls the same width. We chose to make them about two inches wide so we traced out a B in newsprint. Then we drew all the sides on the poster board so the B would be three-dimensional. After tracing the poster board onto the clay slabs we had to put them together. I had to really focus on my artistic skill of slab making because they needed to be very good to create a clean B. When attaching the clay slabs together we had to put slip on the edges after scoring the clay and then then attached a coil to the inside to connect the slabs even more. When it came time to attach the top b to the rest of the b we were a little troubled on how it was going to stay put. Mary suggested that we put coils around certain parts of the top edge so the top B falls into place.

 

For creating a letter my sister Mary and I chose the letter B. I used artists collaborate for this project cause I had to work together with my sister to create the best B to our capabilities. Before rolling out the slabs for the B, we had to use one of our artistic skills, artists plan. In order to create the right dimension for the B to stand up we had to make the walls the same width. We chose to make them about two inches wide so we traced out a B in newsprint. Then we drew all the sides on the poster board so the B would be three-dimensional. After tracing the poster board onto the clay slabs we had to put them together. I had to really focus on my artistic skill of slab making because they needed to be very good to create a clean B. When attaching the clay slabs together we had to put slip on the edges after scoring the clay and then then attached a coil to the inside to connect the slabs even more. When it came time to attach the top b to the rest of the b we were a little troubled on how it was going to stay put. I learned from Mary to put coils around the B to connect the top B to the rest of the shape.