Abstract Koi
Final project - abstract
Description: This is an abstract sculpture of a koi fish. I made a stand to hold the fish upright. The koi has two fins, one on each side. Some may say these fins resemble butterfly wings. The entire piece is hollowed out. I cute the fish into two pieces and I carved out the insides, then score and slipped them back together. The sculpture has no real purpose, it's just for show.
Analysis: This piece does portray balance because the fish has a fin on each side with the tail on one and the head on the other. Almost symmetrical, the tail side is smaller than the head.
Glazing: I plan to paint this piece entirely white with red spots on the head. I was thinking o making the fins and stand black but I still haven't decided.
Judgement: Initially, the this piece was not supposed to look anything like it does. The fins were supposed to be more fish shaped, not butterfly shaped. And the body was supposed to be curled all the way I so the head faces down.
References:
Whale of a Pot
Principal of design
Description: A big sculpture with a small pot incorporated into it. This pot is in the shape of a whale. It can contain seedlings or small succulents. I'm making it as a gift for my mom so she can put one of her small plants in it. This piece portrays a whale on land (because of its flat position), splashing its tail in the water.
Analysis: Its tail is portraying a movement of going up and splashing in the water. The fins also show movement, each is in a different position. The piece is balanced. It doesn't wobble when touched slightly and the piece shows the same things on both sides.
Glazing: This piece exploded in the kiln. I imagine it was due to an excess amount of air bubbles in the clay. But if it would have made it through firing, I would have painted it a gradient of different blues, with a darker blue at the bottom to lighter blue at the highest point.
Judgement: This piece is turning out nicely so far. I plan to use a high fire glaze so it turns out really smooth. I took much effort in smoothing out all the bumps and ridges it had. Hopefully this piece doesn't break. Most tend to be broken by others or because they have such fragile parts.
EDIT: Unfortunately, this piece exploded in the kiln and I was unable to glaze it.
Cat
Your choice
Description: This is a sculpture I am making of a cat. I wanted to try something a little more advance and creative. The cat will be sitting and probably have an object next it, maybe a ball of yarn. The process began with the head. I started out with a ball and shaped it a bit and I kept adding clay to it until I got the desired shape. I then carve the eyes and shaped the nose. It was difficult but I almost got the ears to be symmetrical, I thinned them out to be a bit more realistic.
Analysis: The cat is very well balanced so far and has proportion just like a real cat. I have not added texture (like fur) and do not plan to.
Glazing: I used underglazes and a clear gloss glaze for this project. I ended up painting the cat black like my cat. I gave him a bright red color to show emphasis on it. His eyes are a yellow/green mix.
Judgement: I really love how this piece turned out. My favorite part is definitely the head, it took me forever to sculpt. However it could be a bit more symmetrical. The eyes are a bit uneven but not noticeable by a glance.
Little Pot
container w/ a lid
Description: This pot is roughly 3in wide, 3in long, and 2.5in deep (more or less). To build it, I first started with the wheel. After I threw the pot I trimmed the inside edge so a lid would fit on it and then I trimmed the bottom the have a foot. After the pot, I made the lid. The lid was a very fun and easy process on the wheel. I watched a tutorial on how to make it and I got it on the first try. The lid fits the pot almost exactly, I trimmed the inside a bit too much so the lid is kinda wobbly.
Analysis: For the most part it is pretty symmetrical. The pot is well rounded an even, it has balance. The foot of the pot is not exactly perfect but at least the pot isn't wobbly. There is no texture, the pot is very smooth.
Glazing: I used two glazes for this piece. I used white as a base coat and then dripped medium blue on the bottom. I did vise versa on the inside. After I let the glaze dry, I put a clear glaze on it to give it a shine.
Judgement: In the end, I am mostly satisfied with this piece. I like how the colors turned out and it does what I need it too. It ended up being a small treat jar I keep at my dads for my dog.
Masterpiece Interpretation
Description: The master artist I chose was Van Gogh. He's always been one of my favorite artists. I didn't come up with any crazy ideas for my interpretation. I just made cup coasters. I made coasters because it was actually something that we've been needing and I just thought these would be interesting to see at the table everyday
Analysis: There is balance in this piece, you can evenly see that color is spread to each coaster evenly. However, the main emphasis is definitely the cypress tree on the bottom right coaster. Color and texture are boldly used, every stroke is a different color and shows some type of texture for each object (grass, the buildings, etc).
Glazing: I used many glazes for this piece. I used black for the tree, medium blue, dark blue and light green for the grass and the bushes. Bright yellow, orange, a little bit of peach, green and blue for the houses. I first painted he background blue and slowly added different colors to it, overlapping some. Finally, I added a clear top coat to give it a little shine.
Judgement: Overall I think this piece turned out alright. I got impatient with glazing it so it's pretty sloppy in some places. I don't know how, but the edge chipped off after it was fired so that upset me a bit. I love the colors I used and the effort I put into it too.
About the Painting: As a self taught artist, Van Gogh sketched and painted over 2,000 pieces of art. In 1886, he moved to Paris and studied works of Impressionism and Neo-impressionism. He later became known as a Post-Impressionist Artist. "'This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big,' wrote van Gogh to his brother Theo, describing his inspiration for one of his best-known paintings, The Starry Night (1889)." Starry Night was painted in oil on canvas. He painted this piece in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise, with the addition of an idealized village.
Slab Project
Description: My slab project is my first clay piece I really put effort into. My initial idea was to make a vase. I figured, why not make it in the shape of a snake? It'll look fancy. Unfortunately, it's not much of a vase, because of the way it's shaped. You can't put anything directly in it since the inside is curved. That's okay though, it'll make a great decoration piece.
Analysis: I made this vase using slab pieces. It stands about 1 ft. tall and 2 in. wide. To start, I cut out the shape using a template I drew. Then, I decided how thick I wanted it and cut out some walls and scored/slipped them onto the base. Finally, I put the top piece on and sealed the outer edges.
Glazing: Glazing turned out nothing like I thought it would. I used a base coat of green. Then I added an arroya black to give it texture and dripped some blue paint on the top. I expected the arroya to be much more crackled, but it didn't turn out like that. In fact, it's completely black on the other side that's not pictured.
Judgment: In the end, I'm iffy about this piece. I will be remaking it in the future.Next time, I will work on getting the sides to be completely flat and even. I love the shape and size. The bottom part is rather thin and starts to cave in a bit too. I would have to say my strength is scoring and slipping this piece as well as getting the right shape. But need to improve on balancing it out.
Description: This was my second pottery project. It was just to be practice for the coiling technique. I didn't have any real ideas for this piece, I kinda just threw a bunch of coils on top of each other.
Analysis: This piece was made using the coiling technique. I cut out a small oval vase first. Then , I hand rolled a long coiling and cut it, stacking the layers together on the base. I spiraled a few together to make the top and rolled a coils end together to make the handles. A good principal here is harmony because all the coils blend well together.
Glazing: I did not glaze this pot. In fact, it never made it to the kiln. I wasn't fond of it and it was only for practice. Afterwards, I wedge it with other clay and made a different pot.
Judgement: From the begging, I never planned to keep this piece which is why it's not all that great. It's very uneven when viewed closely and not very smooth. I could improve by taking more time to smooth out the inside. A strength would be the twisted coils at the top, that's my favorite part of this piece.
Pinch Pot
Description: This is my first pottery project. My idea here was to create a pinch pot. I didn't want to make it plain, so I added a snake wrapped around it and a mouse with a slice of cheese in the center. This pot is more for décor, but could possibly hold earrings or some bracelets if necessary. I didn't use any reference photos.
Analysis: I made this piece by staring with a ball of clay. I carefully pinched the ball up to make walls and form the bowl. After that, I used the coiling technique to make the snake. Rolling out the snake took me a bit of time because it was hard to keep it from breaking and stick to the pot. Then, I shaped a mouse and cheese. A principal of design I used here is balance, since everything evens out.
Glazing: I used a crystaltex when glazing my piece. Crystaltex has small rocks in it that explode in the kiln, giving the pot its polka-dot effect. I didn't intentionally want to make it this color. I wasn't sure what one color I should make the whole piece so I picked a random jar from the shelf.
Judgement: Overall, I am not a big fan of this project. I'm not fond of the snakes shape or size. I could improve on making everything even, as the bowl is very crooked on the top and sides. My strength would have to be the mouse, I think the size and shape of it is on point.
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