Plan:

To make this monster, I will start with a round ball the size that I want the body of the monster to be. Once I have it the right size and have smoothed it into a perfect sphere, I will use a wire cutter to cut the sphere in half across the middle. Then, I will use a loop tool to hollow out each side of the body. I will use this method opposed to a double pinch pot method because it produces two halves that have the same thickness, and that fit together perfectly when scoring and slipping in order to make a perfect sphere. Once I have hollowed out each side, I will cut a hole in the bottom middle of one of the sides so that when fired, the piece has a place for air to escape. Then, I will score and slip both pieces together. Next, I will make the fingers/claws. To make these, I will first roll out the general shape of each of the six fingers. Then, I will create a small hole at the tip of each of the fingers. Next, I will shape each of the claws individually. Then, I will score and slip each claw into the finger, bending the claw and finger slightly downwards. I will let these claws all dry for 2 days before adding more detail to them so that they are less fragile/wet when I am trying to shape them. When I do shape them, I will use a small loop tool to cut lines out where the colors will change. Then, I will use water to smooth out these indents in order to make a claw that has segments. I will let the claws dry again for 2 days for the same reason as previously stated. Next, I will score and slip the claws together, in 2 sets of 3, with the middle claw angled a little higher than the side claws to add a more realistic look to it. After that, I will make the arms using the same method as the fingers and score and slip the arms and hands together. After that, I will make the ears. I will start by rolling out a small slab and tracing the general shape of the ears from a print-out of the monster drawing in order to accurately get the correct shape of the ears in the drawing. I will then cut out that shape and add to it some dimension. I will build it up along the edges and make the inside of the ear textured, and also curve the general ear shape inward a little bit. Then, I will make the top headpiece, starting by making a pinch pot to build the dome-like shape of this headpiece. I will then score and slip this onto the top of the monster (with the hole at the bottom), leaving a hole at the back of the headpiece so that I am not trapping air in the headpiece. Then, I will add spikes along the edge of the dome. Then, I will make dents for eyes all over the top of the headpiece. I will make some shallow (for closed eyes) and some a little deeper (for open eyes). Then, I will roll out balls of clay and press them into the eye dents, scoring and slipping then to keep them secure. Then, for the open eyes, I will create the eyelids so that they are open. For the closed eyes, I will create the eyelids in almost the same way, just press them together so that they look closed, but they still look like they have eyelids. once I am done adding the eyes to the headpiece, I might add smaller spikes throughout the top (in between the eyes) depending on how crowded the top already looks, but I will likely just leave it how it is. Once the headpiece is on, I will have a frame of reference for the rest of the monster, so I can make the big eye on the main body (using the same method as the other eye, but with a very shallow grove, a half-dome eye scored and slipped on, and no eyelids), and add the pieces that I have already made- the claws and the ears. Once all of that is done, I will move on to the bottom half. For this part, I will make separate spikes (Rounded out a little at the bottom so that they are not a hazard for a kid to play with and so that they do not scratch whatever surface the monster is put on) and score and slip them onto the bottom of the monster in a circle. I will make these spikes thick and short to provide the most support for the monster, as they will be holding the entire monster up. However, these spikes will originally be too soft to hold the whole monster up, especially with the monster being quite top heavy. So, I will lay the monster on its side while it dries, and not stand it up on its spiky 'feet' until it is bone dry. At the start of the drying process, I will wrap the monster in saran wrap so that it does not dry too fast and crack. I will let the monster dry until it is bone dry. Then, I will paint it with cone 05/06 underglaze, in the colors shown in the drawing on the left above. It will then be fired at lowfire temperatures. Once it has been fired once, I will glaze it with clear glaze and it will be fired again.

Reflection:

*Project in progress​

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