Ceramics

Brooke Bloom "Slippy"

Size, Media, 2021

The purpose of this container is to hold all of the slip that I will be using this semester. My original idea was more of a dish look, but as I went on I added the coil around the bottom. This was supposed to be used as more of a foot, but it ended up just being for decor around the container. I started by rolling out a flat slab of clay, after I did this I cut out a circle to be the bottom of my container. Then I cut a rectangular slab that I wrapped around my circle bottom and put them together. The last thing I did was add the coil to the bottom with intentions of it being my foot, but it was more of a piece to add some flare. This piece serves a purpose, and that’s what I want people to realize when they look at this piece. Making the sides smooth was really difficult for me, I wasn’t very successful in that, but it’s okay because I think it adds a lot of character. If I started over I would add a pattern to the walls, and make everything smoother. It’s unique to me because a lot of people don’t choose to add the bottom coil and just put a foot. I am really happy with my color choice for the glaze. I was worried it was going to turn out very light, but instead it turned out to be a nice dark teal color.

Brooke Bloom "Chippy and Dippy"

Size, Media, 2021

The idea for this piece was to create two bowls, one meant for chips and the other meant for dip. I wanted to make two similar dishes that could be used together. I got the idea from the examples shown in class, it was a combination of several different dishes I saw. I started by rolling out a slab and cutting a circle. After that I rolled in a pattern to the dip bowl, but not into the chip bowl. Looking back I wish I would have decided to add the same pattern. I put the circular pieces into the ring shape piece and did some shaking to get it to drop down. I let it dry and then fired before glazing it. I glazed the dip bowl a teal color, which turned out to look very nice. For the chip bowl I decided to paint it an orange color. Again, looking back I wish I would’ve painted it the same color as the dip bowl, or painted the dip bowl the orange color. I want people to notice the differences of the pieces as well as the size difference. I hope people can understand the intention for use of these pieces. Decision-making was difficult for me in this piece. I made all of the decisions, but I am not sure I made the best decisions, but in future pieces I can make better decisions since I now have a better understanding on how to properly match pieces. My favorite color is orange so that really matched who I am, and the simplicity of the pieces matches me very well. Both those things are what I like most about these pieces.

Brooke Bloom “Somewhere Under the Rainbow”

Size, Media, 2021

This piece is intended to be a cookie jar with a rainbow handle. I got the idea of a cookie jar from my grandma, and the idea of the rainbow was just a random thought. I rolled out a slab, and cut a circle out of the slab. That would be used as my base. I then rolled out another piece of slab and cut a long flat piece out of that. I did this over and over again, making each piece into a circle form piled onto the circle base piece. Once I made it to the top I made my rainbow by coiling and stacking. I attached it using slip, as I did with the clouds onto the rainbow. I originally attached a foot, but after both firings it wouldn’t stay on. So, I left it off. I used a sponge to do most of my smoothing, and a rolling pin to make my slabs. When people look at this piece I want them to think about what is inside the jar. I want people to be curious and excited to take the lid off. I really struggled to get the sides to be smooth. A few times the layers wouldn’t even connect so I had to redo them a couple times. If I started over I wouldn’t have taken the same approach to the jar portion. I like the simplicity of the jar, and I am very happy about the color choices in the rainbow.