Week 12

    I am currently working on a hand built tea pot.  I will be finished within one or two class periods.

Vases

one of my finished vases

      My cylinder was eight inches tall.  I planned on making my vases look similar in shape, but with altered dimensions.  It was difficult to make them the same basic shape when someone's work fell on them on the shelf. It did, however, work out in the end and the vases looked pretty similar, and they should both have blue.  

Glazing

Finished Sgraffito Pot

     I used black and green underglaze, as well as clear glaze for this piece.  I applied the black underglaze with a bamboo brush and the green glaze with a small paint brush.  I then dunked the piece into clear glaze.  

Sgraffito

    Sgraffito is the scratching away at clay or plaster which creates designs and shapes.

I like this piece

    I did like the sgraffito process even though I was not really sure what design I was going for.  I found it hard to judge how deep I should scratch, which was terrifying because I didn't want to destroy my piece.
    I plan on using sgraffito again, because it allows for a lot of creative freedom.

I miss you too, Mrs. Gleeson!

      Over the summer I attended the Governor's School for German.  It was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of work. We were only allowed to speak german, which was kind of a bummer, but it wasn't that bad until the last couple of days.
      I didn't really read anything interesting this summer because I barely had time to read the required reading, but at least those books were good.  I have been listening to a lot the the Jackson 5 and the Arctic Monkeys. You should check out the arctic monkeys. They are real good.
     We should make big goblet things this year. That was exciting last year.

Post snow days

    

         Right now I am working on making three large bowls, and I also have to finish glazing my candle holder.  For the bowls project it is important to remember to compress the bottom of the bowl with a sponge, going back and forth three times to the center.  It is also important to bring the clay up and down three times before completely centering the clay and beginning your bowl.  Another thing that is important when making bowls is to make the inside of the bowl match the outside of the bowl.  On my candle holder project I concentrated on contrast by using three different textures. 

3rd Quarter Project

1.) You should take your work off of the wooden boards once they are leather hard so that they do not continue to be dried out by the wood, and so you can trim/finish the piece.
2.) I focused on contrast by using different textures with the clay.
3.) I learned how to create things out of slabs of clay.
4.) I do not think that I would add or change anything to the project to make it more interesting. It allows us to make something with our available skills

February Post

       I am working on the candle holder where lights shine through the holder.  I have put the five sides together and I have cut out parts from two of the sides. I am not having any problems at the moment.  Putting the five slabs together was probably the easiest part of the project so far.

Glazing Part 2

Extra credit piece

    I used the Seaspray glaze for this piece.  There were no problems with the glazing. 

End of Semester 1

Bone Dry - Clay that is completely dried but not yet fired.  Clay forms are most fragile at this stage.
Leather Hard - Clay which has dried sufficiently to be stiff, but is still damp enough to be joined to other pieces.
       It is important to trim pottery and connect slab work when the clay is leather hard because clay is too soft when you first make the piece and it could tear.  When the clay is too hard it can break and chip if you try to trim it.  When it is leather hard, however, it is the right consistency and will be easy to trim.

Three cups

I have one more cup that has is being fired now which i still need to glaze.  I also just glazed a piece that shows contrast in texture.

The feet of my cups