Unit 6 - April/May

I started by rolling out a large slab and cutting out the general shapes I was looking for in my piece. without yet cutting the sides, I let the front and back sit until they were leather hard, and then stood them up to mold on the walls. Once everything was bone dry, I underglazed the house blue, and the roofs light pink. Once glazed, I used 501 blues to create little dashed "bricks" and clear glazed the rest. If I were to redo this piece, I would make the walls thicker and even out the bottom as much because the house is slightly uneven. I might also paint the roof a different color to match the bricks rather than it being such a bright pink. 

I made my teapot by first making two pinch pots to score and slip together. Once they had sat for a day, I made a small handle and a slab that i darted to make into the spout. Once everything was secured on, I underglazed everything in Avocado green underglaze and let it sit to leather hard. I scraffitoed flowers onto the sides, and then after it had been fired to bisque ware, I glazed it with clear glaze. My only regret is with the lid- when i glazed it, the only glaze left was from the bottom of the jar, and it didn't actually glaze my lid and instead left bubbles and a weird roughness. Because of the weird lid glazing, it's also not food safe.

I knew I wanted to do an Italian design for my platter, but I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to make until I found a few inspo pics on pinterest. I started by cutting a large oval slab and creating a small darted cup as a sauce holder. Once fired, I decided to water down my glazes to attempt a "watercolor" look for the fruit. I started with just circles, slowly adding shading with non watered down glaze and then creating two-toned leaves with different greens. Once all the fruit and leaves were made, I did small details in black, and then added in blue and orange swirls to fill space. For the sauce dish, I just made a simple olive design and put dot art correlating to the olives colors on the inside. Overall, I am extremely proud of how my final turned out, but If i had to change anything, I would adjust the shape of the platter to either a more uniform oval or a square with sides and handles. 

I knew I had to do something relatively fast as my donation piece, but i still wanted to make something I would appreciate and be proud to donate. I rolled out a simple slab to cut into the whale shape, then used a carving tool to make little indents for jewelry or paint and a scoring tool to add texture to the whales "belly." Im not exactly sure what happened, but after firing this piece it also ended up bubbling like my teapot lid, but it left a piece of the head untouched. I actually really like how the glaze worked, and think it matches the oceanic whale theme too. If i had to change something, i would take more time designing the shape and maybe sketching it on a piece of paper so that it looked a little more whale-like.