unit 1 & 2 projects

Stamp project (unit 1):

Plan:

In making this stamp, I started with a small ball of wedged clay. I rolled it into a thick tube-like shape and then pressed one end into the table to create a flat circular base to put my stamp design on. Then I pressed the sides in along the edges and in the middle to create the stamp shape with the handle coming out from the top. I cut the handle so that it was a reasonable length and smoothed out the top. Once I had made the stamp shape, I rolled out 5 short pieces of clay and scored/slipped them onto my stamp. I smoothed out the edges and fired it, using no glaze.

Stamp project (unit 1):

Reflection:
For this particular piece, the molding of the stamp went well. It was not a particularly difficult method and easily created the shape I wanted. The scoring/slipping also went well, as all of the pieces stayed on after being fired.

While the molding of the stamp turned out how I envisioned it, next time I might consider not having a base stamp shape, as that does create a design with a circle around it. If I want a design without this added circle around it, then I could make the same design, but make the backing that holds the pieces together smaller so that only the pattern makes an indent, and not the circular shape of the stamp.

Plan:

In making this stamp, I started by shaping a piece of clay into a flat rectangle. I then use one of the small loop cutter tools to carve out a design onto the stamp base. Once my design was carved out, I smoothed it out with water and fired it. I did not use any glaze for this piece.

Reflection:

For this piece, the cutting out of the design worked extremely well. The small loop tool was very effective at cutting even lines in the stamp that were the right width.

The only thing I would do differently next time would be to roll out the clay and cut out a rectangle instead of shaping a flat rectangle, because that would be a much easier method.

Stamp project (unit 1):

Plan:

To make this stamp, I started with a small ball of wedged clay. I rolled it into a thick tube-like shape and then pressed one end into the table to create a flat circular base to put my stamp design on. Then I pressed the sides in along the edges and in the middle to create the stamp shape with the handle coming out from the top. I cut the handle so that it was a reasonable length and smoothed out the top. Once I had made the stamp shape, I used the first stamp that I had made with the starfish-like design to press into the surface of this new stamp, essentially creating a reverse of the original stamp. The original stamp was a negative stamp, and this new one is a positive stamp.

Reflection:
The molding of this stamp went well. Again, it was not a particularly difficult method and easily created the shape I wanted. It was also particularly easy to create the pattern because all I had to do was stamp my already-made pattern onto this new stamp.

The only thing I might have done differently is stamp the pattern onto the clay before I formed the stamp. When I stamped the pattern onto the face of the stamp, the edges sort of curved around the original stamp. It was not too difficult to fix, but in the future I would probably just stamp the pattern on before forming the stamp to avoid this.

Face sculpture (unit 1):

Plan:

To make this face, I started with a tennis-ball-sized lump of wedged clay. I rolled this into a ball and then dropped it onto the table to create a flat back. I then made indents 1/3 of the way down the face for the eyes. I rolled 2 evenly sized balls and placed them in the eye sockets. I then scored and slipped more clay around the eyes to form eyelids, shaping them so that it would look like the man was smiling. Then I scored and slipped on more pieces of clay to form the eyebrows, the forehead, the chin, the cheeks, the nose, and the mouth. After this, I used tools to make lines, specifically around the man's eyes, to give expression to the old man I was sculpting. Once I was finished with this, I hollowed out the backside and the piece without using any glazes.

Reflection:
For this piece, I think some of the smaller details, like the eyes, the eyebrows, and the creases/wrinkles in the face, worked well.

However, if I were to do something like this again, I would definitely make some of the features more defined. I would add more clay to the cheeks and add deeper grooves to really make it look like the man was smiling. I would add more clay on the chin and forehead to give the head a more realistic shape. I also think I would use different tools for making the wrinkles because the tools I used were too small and caused the face not to be as smooth as it could have been. I also think I would underglaze it white next time, so that the piece turns out a white color after being fired instead of the peachy color it ended up being.

Small underglazed piece (unit 1):

Plan:

To make this piece, I used a mold of a plate to shape my plate. I first wedged clay and rolled it out. Then, I shaped and cut it to fit onto the plastic plate mold. Then I left my plate in this mold while I painted a design onto it using underglaze. I first painted 3 layers of cone 5 white underglaze onto the plate as a background color. Then I started with the pattern. I had cut out a stencil at home that I brought to class specifically for this project. I used this stencil to trace the pattern I wanted onto the plate with a pencil, and then began painting the design over it. I used the cone 5 Dark Green underglaze. I painted 2 layers of this onto the plate. After the main front design was done, I painted 3 layers of white cone 5 underglaze on the back of the plate, taking it out of its mold, and then firing it. After it had been fired once, I used a cone 5 foodsafe glaze to coat the entire plate in three layers. Then my plate was midfired.

Reflection:
For this piece, my second design went well. My second pattern was quite simple, as it had larger shapes and not as complex shapes.

The original plan that I tried to do did not work well. I originally attempted to put a different pattern on the plate. I started by trying to trace an intricate pattern onto the plate from a pattern I had drawn onto a piece of paper. The problem was, the clay was still too wet when I was tracing, and the paper got too damp. This caused my pencil to poke through the paper in multiple spots, making small holes in the clay. The paper also stuck to the clay a lot, and did not fully peel of. In addition to this, I had not painted a white coat underneath the pattern before I drew it on, so when I put a white coat on after, it was not a smooth layer. I decided to completely paint over my design, filling in all of the holes with white underglaze after scraping off all of the paper. The method I did after this worked a lot better. In the future, I know not to race a pattern onto clay until it is leather hard.

Small animal sculpture (unit 2):

Plan:

Reflection:

Practice pinch pot (unit 2):

Plan:

To make this pinch pot, I started with a tennis ball-sized piece of wedged clay. I then pressed my thumb into the center of it to make a hole. Then, I gently pinched the sides between my thumbs and fingers while turning to pot to widen and shape the walls. After that, I pressed the bottom onto the table to make it flat, and I tried to shape the bottom to make it the same width as the rest of the pot. I used the wire cutter to cut it in half and see how I did.

Reflection:

Overall, this went well. There were no holes or air bubbles in the pinch pot, and the sides were relatively the same width.

What I would work on next time is making the bottom the same width as the sides. The bottom of this practice piece was much too thick.