The assignment for these projects was to make two mugs and two platters. We could do whatever we wanted with the platters and mugs once we had shaped them. I made my two mugs first and carved in trees for one of them in the theme of Christmas and carved Santa in the other. For the platters, I carved out little triangles around the edges to form a star shape for one and carved out little crescent shaped pieces around the edges for the other to form a spaceship of sorts. I made these mugs and platters by grabbing slabs of clay and thinning them a little bit. I then used a roller to roll out equal slabs of clay and for the cups, cut out even rectangles. I then used a cup to roll the clay into a cup form, cut out a base and slipped and scored the rectangular role and the base. I then made a handle out of a thicker roll and attached that as well. I did this for both cups and for one carved out pine trees and the other carved out Santa. For the trees on the first mug, I used PC-41, a vert lustre green glaze and used PC-59, a firebrick red glaze for the surrounding space. For the platters, I used the same roller but made it thicker than the mug by taking out a board under the roller. For the platters, I used foam board to cut out a circular shape and but the slab of clay on top. I then repeatedly dropped the board and the clay went into the divet in the foam board and set to form the platter. I carved one of the platters to form a star shape on the edges and the other to form a spaceship shape. For both platters, I glazed the underside with PC-4, a palladium color and for the spaceship platter I used PC-36 orange while I used HF-167 clementine for the star platter.

Form played a big part in these pieces because the form of the platter needed to be just right. Maintaining the correct circular form on the cups was also important because almost all cups are circular. The color in these pieces were also important because they kind of brought the pieces to life. Without them, the mugs and platters were bland and so the glazes did a great deal. I didn;t know what I was going to do for carving of the mugs at the beginning but they evolved into Christmas themed mugs. The platter were the same way, with me having no idea what they would end up looking like but I was happy with the star and spaceship in the end.

The meaning for the mugs was simply a Christmas theme because it was around Christmas when these were constructed. The platters had no real meaning beside just me wanting to make them look as cool as possible. I was excited for Christmas when I made these mugs so that is the personal connection. One of the mugs was also a Christmas present for my grandmother so it was important for me. I am really proud of the way the glazing turned out on the platters. The orange is super cool on the star platter and the rust color that ended up on the spaceship platter is cool. I love the palladium on the base as well as it is a silver shine and looks awesome. I struggled most with getting the mugs to be circular and making it so the clay didn't tear when it was being dropped on the table on the foamboard. It did tear for one of the platters but I patched it up with additional clay. The artwork could be stronger if I had handled the difficult parts of this piece better. For example, the mugs aren't perfect circles as they have spots when they are uneven. However, they are still usable and I love the glazing I did and so I am happy in general with my work.