This was a unit i struggled with a lot. The main reason i struggled was i got to excited about making that i almost forgot about the developmental drawing and planning side of the work. Which although i feel is a mistake that i shouldn't be making at this level, i do think on some level it shows the base line of enjoyment in the craft. I dont think that is something to forget.
As i decided to link my ceramics and developmental units together i started working in my sketch book along side the blog i had written before. After experimenting with slabbing, coiling, pinching, glazing and stenciling i had made the decision to work with the theme of the sea shore.
I loved the idea, at the time, of working around the theme of water.I started by looking at Japanese waves as a print.
Using this as a starting point i decided to experiment along the way, i made a coil pot and used decorative slip over the top of it. I then carved into the slip to create the wave.
I then painted the tops of the waves white and fired it. This pot actually got fired to high or twice because after the glaze fire it burned off all of the slip and went back to being white and had burned marks on it.
I also ended up experimenting with combining coiling and pinching to make the pot into the shape of the waves. I also created another one using slabbing. But i wasn't very happy with the outcome.
I also found pinching quite difficult, but i did enjoy slabbing.
I ended up making a slab and rolling out coils then pinching them to make a flat base with 'waves'.
I liked the 3D element of the waves and i started experimenting with drawings of that i would make with this idea of slabbing.
I ended up producing these slabs with sea shore inspired elements on it, rocks, barnacles and other sea like textures.
I decided at this point to look at turners paintings and start experimenting with paint on paper to play around with texture.
I used water colours, acrylic and oil on paper and card just to play around with colour and technique. I know it is not seen as drawing in the traditional sense but i do believe it is. As i would not be able to create the textures i wanted with something like a pen or pencil and this is what was pulling me forward at the time.
At this point i started to experiment on pots.
Applying paint and pulling it back with a pallet knife was tricky on clay and the under of decorate slip as i needed it to be dry but not bone dry.
I was starting to really love the results and after experimenting further i began to focus on the overlapping of water onto land and the foam it leaved behind as it pushed and pulls.
After experimenting with different pots i came to an end with these two below:
I ended up wanting to add elements of the land into my pots as you can see in my final, again using the pallet knife to carve texture into it.
I then started the glaze, i decided to stipple some of the glaze on so it would seem like parts of the water, i only glazed the water and stippled the foam and left the 'land' dry.
Overall this unit challenged me a lot. I went through a lot of ups and down in how i felt about the work and also what i was producing. It is very technical and has a lot about the art form to lean and i barley scratched the surface.
I feel ok about my final pot, i like the paint on it although i wish i had challenged myself on the scale and shape of the pot itself.
If i could do it again i would have done it completely differently. As i said before i would have spent more time on the planning and development of my ideas and not let myself get carried away with the creation. I did find using my hands to make something to therapeutic. And in that way i enjoyed the unit overall.
As i decided to link my ceramics and developmental units together i started working in my sketch book along side the blog i had written before. After experimenting with slabbing, coiling, pinching, glazing and stenciling i had made the decision to work with the theme of the sea shore.
I loved the idea, at the time, of working around the theme of water.I started by looking at Japanese waves as a print.
Using this as a starting point i decided to experiment along the way, i made a coil pot and used decorative slip over the top of it. I then carved into the slip to create the wave.
I then painted the tops of the waves white and fired it. This pot actually got fired to high or twice because after the glaze fire it burned off all of the slip and went back to being white and had burned marks on it.
I also ended up experimenting with combining coiling and pinching to make the pot into the shape of the waves. I also created another one using slabbing. But i wasn't very happy with the outcome.
I also found pinching quite difficult, but i did enjoy slabbing.
I ended up making a slab and rolling out coils then pinching them to make a flat base with 'waves'.
I liked the 3D element of the waves and i started experimenting with drawings of that i would make with this idea of slabbing.
I ended up producing these slabs with sea shore inspired elements on it, rocks, barnacles and other sea like textures.
After speaking to my tutor we decided that the end piece should be more 3D and i decided to go back to coil pots. I wanted to work with the decorative slip as i enjoyed it so much and i loved the painting element of it. I decided to focus on that and keep the pot shapes very simple so i could experiment with slip.
I decided at this point to look at turners paintings and start experimenting with paint on paper to play around with texture.
I used water colours, acrylic and oil on paper and card just to play around with colour and technique. I know it is not seen as drawing in the traditional sense but i do believe it is. As i would not be able to create the textures i wanted with something like a pen or pencil and this is what was pulling me forward at the time.
At this point i started to experiment on pots.
Applying paint and pulling it back with a pallet knife was tricky on clay and the under of decorate slip as i needed it to be dry but not bone dry.
I was starting to really love the results and after experimenting further i began to focus on the overlapping of water onto land and the foam it leaved behind as it pushed and pulls.
After experimenting with different pots i came to an end with these two below:
I ended up wanting to add elements of the land into my pots as you can see in my final, again using the pallet knife to carve texture into it.
I then started the glaze, i decided to stipple some of the glaze on so it would seem like parts of the water, i only glazed the water and stippled the foam and left the 'land' dry.
Overall this unit challenged me a lot. I went through a lot of ups and down in how i felt about the work and also what i was producing. It is very technical and has a lot about the art form to lean and i barley scratched the surface.
I feel ok about my final pot, i like the paint on it although i wish i had challenged myself on the scale and shape of the pot itself.
If i could do it again i would have done it completely differently. As i said before i would have spent more time on the planning and development of my ideas and not let myself get carried away with the creation. I did find using my hands to make something to therapeutic. And in that way i enjoyed the unit overall.
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