Pinch Technique: Spheres
Our first assignment of the year was Spheres. We were assigned to design 3 spheres: one inspired by nature, one man-made, and one pattern. The first step to making spheres is actually making the sphere. We used the pinch technique, and scratch and slipped 2 pinch pots together to make the sphere. We were challenged to make sure both pinch pots were the same size and width all the way around, and make the outside of the spheres as smooth as we can. For my nature inspired sphere, I did a pumpkin. I chose to make a pumpkin because it's getting close to fall and Halloween. I learned about the different tools I could use to recreate the texture and lines on the pumpkin and how to make the stem look rough and natural. For my man-made sphere, I wanted to do something along the lines of a ukulele. I decided to make a small ukulele to put on top of the sphere. It was hard for me to make the ukulele because the clay was very sensitive to touch, and it dried out fast. I wanted to make it look like the ukulele was part of the sphere, so I cut out a half moon shape out of the back of the ukulele so that it would rest smoothly on the sphere, which was successful. For my last sphere, we had to paint the sphere with underglaze, then use a needle tool to carve out a pattern into the clay, exposing the color of the clay under the underglaze. I painted my sphere with black underglaze because I wanted to have contrast between the pattern and the glaze. I made small swirls starting from the bottom of the sphere, to the top. I'd say that I was most successful with being able to make the spheres. I was able to make them quickly without being sloppy. I would say that I struggled with handling the clay because it dried on me fast, which made it hard to work with. I learned that you can't handle the clay a lot because your hands can dry it out. I'd say that this was a good first project in Ceramics class because not only did it teach us a technique, but it also gave us freedom in what we wanted our spheres to be. After they were fired, they looked pretty good! I wish I would've paid attention to if the glaze I used was matte or shiny, because I would've liked if the pumpkin was shiny rather than matte orange.
Our first assignment of the year was Spheres. We were assigned to design 3 spheres: one inspired by nature, one man-made, and one pattern. The first step to making spheres is actually making the sphere. We used the pinch technique, and scratch and slipped 2 pinch pots together to make the sphere. We were challenged to make sure both pinch pots were the same size and width all the way around, and make the outside of the spheres as smooth as we can. For my nature inspired sphere, I did a pumpkin. I chose to make a pumpkin because it's getting close to fall and Halloween. I learned about the different tools I could use to recreate the texture and lines on the pumpkin and how to make the stem look rough and natural. For my man-made sphere, I wanted to do something along the lines of a ukulele. I decided to make a small ukulele to put on top of the sphere. It was hard for me to make the ukulele because the clay was very sensitive to touch, and it dried out fast. I wanted to make it look like the ukulele was part of the sphere, so I cut out a half moon shape out of the back of the ukulele so that it would rest smoothly on the sphere, which was successful. For my last sphere, we had to paint the sphere with underglaze, then use a needle tool to carve out a pattern into the clay, exposing the color of the clay under the underglaze. I painted my sphere with black underglaze because I wanted to have contrast between the pattern and the glaze. I made small swirls starting from the bottom of the sphere, to the top. I'd say that I was most successful with being able to make the spheres. I was able to make them quickly without being sloppy. I would say that I struggled with handling the clay because it dried on me fast, which made it hard to work with. I learned that you can't handle the clay a lot because your hands can dry it out. I'd say that this was a good first project in Ceramics class because not only did it teach us a technique, but it also gave us freedom in what we wanted our spheres to be. After they were fired, they looked pretty good! I wish I would've paid attention to if the glaze I used was matte or shiny, because I would've liked if the pumpkin was shiny rather than matte orange.