Coil and Carve

Using our brand new technique of coiling, I created a vase by hand rolling long ropes of clay, coiling them, and stacking them upon one another. I rolled out about ten coils a half inch thick to begin. I flattened out a slab of clay and cut out a circle to be the base of my vase. I then began to wrap the rope around the base and coiled up off of it. Each time I reached the end of the rope, I used a toothed tool to blend the coils together on the inside and outside walls. I then went over it with a smoothing tool to seal the cracks and make it look nice. After I reached the height and form I wanted, I used the heel of my hand to create the curve I wanted to achieve for the lip of the vase. Once the clay hardened a bit I began carving a similar design to what I did on my sgraffito sphere. After firing, I used SM-20 (light blue) for the outside of the vase, and SM-29 (blue green) for the inside. As my project evolved I had to change my design idea because I allowed the clay to harden too quickly causing it to be difficult to carve into. If I were to change this piece I would make it taller and create a more gradual curve between the top and bottom half. I also would make sure to glaze the entire inside of the vase rather than only the top half. I am proud of the wavy design on top because it's exactly how I pictured it in my head. With this project I struggled with making the coils, but I overcame this by giving myself time and having patience.