April 9, 2008
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CERAMiCS!
Hi hi!
So I'm really excited about the work I've done in ceramics. Here are a few pictures of the things I've made!
Ok, so there's some stories behind this bird...this was not the bird I made originally--it became to brittle and "leather-hard" and so when it fell off of a pedestal-like thing, it shattered. So this is the second bird. Well, I had planned on an owl (see the eyes); but it seems to have evolved (oooh, the word of controversy) into part penguin..and then the colors, part parrot. Who knows! Ok, then the ridiculous part of the story. Take a look at the bird--notice its tail? So, after glazing the bird, I aligned it so the beak was in the same direction as the stomach--correctly aligned. Well, someone turned its head after putting it in the kiln, so the head was fused on backwards. It looked REALLY awkward (tail in the front..X_x). Luckily, it was fused in a really small part, so after a little sawing with a nail file, it was fixed and properly aligned as seen above..=)
I don't really know what happened to the color of the leaves..I guess they were lacking nutrition or something..teehee, or I guess I didn't do a good job dipping the free coils into the glaze..
Ok, call me a UBER NERD! Fine with me! My inspiration was the mitochondrion in the textbooks--you know, they're usually blue colored..and then those little lines could be cristae..the black oozing is more like volcanic-ooze, but I thought it'd look nice--this is my favorite piece thus far, by the way. I would have liked my tree better, but the colors...This one actually turned out EXACTLY the way I wanted it to; so I'm reaaaally happy.
Oatmeal! Mom's brekkie.
Here are pictures of an incomplete one taken in the middle of class (Xanga advantage! No sneak previews elsewhere..oh what a privilege, lol):
Before you gawk at it in disgust (or too late?), I had to cut it in half. The way the animal sculptures are constructed are: first you sculpt it, then you cut it in some way so that you can hollow it out--otherwise the clay would be too thick/heavy, and the clay has to be dry before firing, so it'd take forever! Hence the cutting. Sadly, there was a little delight in cutting the whale--but more sorrow since it looked so nice before cutting it. However, after hollowing it out, I fused it back together, so no worries! Pictures will be posted after it is fired.. I don't know if I'll have time to glaze it..hopefully!!
!!
Comments (10)
wow, mei! that whale looks rad.
it'll look great if you can glaze it blue
i like your work...but the bird scares me a little
haha.
omggg i'm so nervous right now. :/
nice!
Thanks for your comment ^_^
Yeah, I've heard of that show, but I've never wtached it. I'm more into anime and that kind of thing ^_^;
wow, I love the ceramics work you've done! I used to be pretty decent in art, and kind of in ceramics, but I haven't had the chance to try for a while. My favorite, although I don't really like biology, is the mitochodrion-inspired piece. haha. And the bird is uber cute!
melinda-
you make me laugh.
=D
I did make a ceramic pencil holder in elementary school. I like sculpting things, even though I'm not so great at it. I guess it works as a brain stimulant. Stress reliever. Good feeling.
those look amazing!! do you still try to make ceramics? [although im not sure if youd have access to a kiln...]
Ooooh so that's the trick to getting it hollow. I took a mixed media class once...my teacher never once told me about this trick -_-'
These are great! I thought the penguin looked a bit odd at first, but the more I looked at it, the more it grew on me lol. Especially after reading the story about how its head was originally facing backwards haha...
@shortstuff3157 -
thanks!!! n_n!!!
It made my hands terribly dry though! :O
I haven't tried making since then because of 1) the lack of kiln access 2) no surface to wedge on (squeezing out the air bubbles; but smooth surfaces are too slidy, so I would need something maybe canvas-y?) 3) dust everywhere (sneeze!). Though I have a huge brick of clay sitting at home, assuming my parents didn't toss it. :O I think I had $16 worth of clay left (that stuff was really really heavy too, btw), so hopefully they kept it.
@a_drunken_cellist -
It was kind of a strange feeling--working hard to perfect something (or try as hard to..) and then chopping it up! O_O! Not to mention sometimes it got a little warped if I applied too much pressure while hollowing it out.
Thanks n_n!! Hehe, I actually gave the bird to my mom, since my mom is a bird-watcher/enthusiast and right when I gave it to her she accidentally knocked it over and the beak chipped even more. (I just laughed when that happened, but mom was pretty upset). My first first thought was actually to make a robot! But then I decided a bird would be more meaningful.