Violin Finished!

Ladies and Gentlemen, The moment we've all been waiting for! My violin tea pot is out of the kiln and finished! This piece was a real struggle. From the actual building of it to the final glazing, I didn't really know what I was doing. Pretty much everything that could go wrong a piece, went wrong here. I didn't consider the size of the kiln, I ran out of time and made no supports, I didn't wrap the piece correctly so it dried out and broke.... well, I think that's enough of that. Obviously a lot went wrong on the way, but in the end, I'm actually proud of this piece. I should give it some dramatic name like Perseverance, or something. Because that's what this piece is made out of... Pure, unadulterated determination.

Mrs. Gleeson, thank you so so so sooooo much for everything you've done for us these past years. You're one of the best teachers I've ever had. You're always ready to listen to anything I had to say (and we both know I talk a lot, so that's saying something). Thanks for putting up with my... uhmm-- Non-existent planning skills (especially with this piece, jeez. ) You're really the one that made any of this possible. I promise to visit a bit next year! Love, Vicky

Final Grade (sounds like a movie title)

Hey, so. End of the year, huh? I can't really believe we're graduating already. The last pieces I worked on this year (sniffle) were my pitchers. I decided to use a thick glaze for the big pitcher in hope that it will help the handle and the whole piece in general hold together better. The little pitcher was supposed to have flowers, but it looks like the wax resist wasn't really agreeing with me. They kind of turned out like stars, which is also pretty cute, so I'm happy anyways. 

 I've decided to glaze my violin/viola thing from November. I'm gonna have to come in during a couple of the vacation days, but over all, I think it will be worth it. I worked so hard on it, that I just have to finish it at this point. Last time I did a blog post I was really hungry and that made me angry, but I don't think I can just throw this baby away. There'll probably be one more blog post about it, so this isn't the last one. No tears yet, Mrs. Gleeson!

May Post

My lantern came out! I think it looks pretty cool, with all the different colors and animals. Right now, I'm working on glazing my pitchers. The first pitcher (above) was alright, since I threw it in one piece. I had a hard time throwing the second one, though. I wanted to do it in two halves, so I threw a bowl and a top part for it. It was pretty difficult making the shape that I imagined for the top half, and since I have a tendency to make the rims of my bowls very thin, it was difficult to attach the pieces together later on. 

My violin teapot piece came out of the kiln, too... But I'm still not sure whether to keep it or not. It'll probably look better once I glaze it, but it's already cracked multiple times where the neck connects to the body of the instrument. I'm kind of  starting to think it's more trouble than it's worth, but I worked so hard on it at the beginning of the year that I feel like I should keep it. Maybe I'll set it aside for now and work on it when I'm not so hungry. I gotta be in a better mood for this stuff. 

4th Quarter Week 1

   

 Right now, I'm working on my pitcher. I made a rough shape last class, but the angles made the structure too weak. I've let it dry out a bit, and hopefully today, I will finish up my pitcher today. I tend to make the handles too heavy, so I'll also try to make a thinner handle than usual. I also made a little bowl. I don't really know what I'll use it for, but I managed to rescue it from an almost-pitcher I made the other day. 

End of 3rd Quarter

      I finished glazing my bottles the other day! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, although I kind of wish I had chosen a different color for the reddish one. I recently got back on the wheel to start my pitcher project. I'm thinking of building it in two parts, so I won't have as hard a time with the amounts of  clay. I've never thrown a piece in two parts, so this will be a learning experience. 

       The only piece I have hanging is my lantern. I've started glazing it, but I was having difficulties with the glaze. I'm glazing it with different variations of True Celadon. Each wall is a different color, depending on the animal it portrays. I had a hard time keeping the glaze on only the wall it belonged on when I was dipping them, so now I'm going to try brushing on the glazes. Today's goal is to finish glazing the lantern. 

      I really liked the lantern project! I guess I was feeling inspired or something when I started it... I usually get tired of hand building pretty quickly, but this time, I felt good about it the whole way through. 

March Update

I've done a lot of stuff over the past months! There was an accident with my violin teapot/ wall hanging piece. We are going to work on gluing it back together so that I can glaze it, hopefully soon. Right after I finished my tea pot, I started with my bottles. I remember finding the bottles pretty easy once I got back into the swing of the wheel. I originally planned to sgraffito more of them, but I was short on time since my violin took me so long. I've glazed only one of them completely. The other three still need to be glazed. I will probably try to do that today, after I finish my lantern.

Now, I have to finish my lantern. It will definitely go to the kiln today, I just have to clean it up and smooth it a little more on the inside. This lantern is my pride and joy... It forced me to go home and work on designs instead of just winging it when I got to class. Each of the five faces of the lantern has a carving of a vertebrate animal. I had an especially difficult time with the frog, but he ended up alright. Frog legs have the weirdest structure I have ever seen.

On a different note, my hand buit vase with the green sgraffito flower is going to be displayed at Cityspace today. I'm really glad I made it in time. Hopefully, I'll be able to go down town with it and stand by it for a little while during the art show.

Hand Built Teapot

            In this project, I rolled more slabs than I ever have before. I learned how to hollow out solid pieces with the trimming tool. At one point I forgot to place a support inside the violin's body, and that was almost catastrophic, so I learned to improvise and figure out a way to place little support beams in. I have orchestra every day before ceramics, so the music in my head inspired me to create a teapot based on the instrument I play. The principle of design most shown my work would probably be Unity. I'm hoping that when I put the pieces together, they'll look like they belong there. 
            As you can see, I'm not done with this project yet. I still have to attach the pieces and make a bridge and some sort of support for the teapot to stand on it's side. I have not glazed my two complementing vases either, but right now the viola is my priority.