Book Ends

For this assignment, we were asked to create book ends that were inspired by a book genre or a quote from a book. I chose to base mine off of the fairytale genre, specifically Goldilocks and the three bears. I decided to make a vintage looking bed as my subject.

I started by making a large slab and measuring out a rectangle from it. I made four even coils to act as the bed posts, and attached them to each corner. Then, I added small balls of clay on top of each post to give the vintage look. Using the remainder of the slab, I cut out two rounded pieces with straight bottoms to put between the posts to make the headboard and footboard. While my original plan was to make four more coils to make the legs of the bed, I chose to make two coils and lay them flat across the bottom of the bed, so that it was still lifted from the ground but not so much that it would fall over. From there, I made a pillow using the same technique I used for my teapot pillow, and also made a blanket using the slab machine, this time a much thinner slab. Once my piece was all assembled, I let it dry in a controlled bag, so there wouldn't be any cracks in weaker, thinner areas.

Once my bookends were leather hard, I cut it directly in half and added two square slabs for the actual bookends. Then I fired them once completely dry. After the bisque fire, I stained the bed with a black stain and sponged it off so that the black would stay in the crevices only. Then, I glazed the blanket with a pink celadon glaze and the pillow with a white celadon glaze. Then, we fired the piece for the final time.

Overall, I am very happy with my final project. I think my bookends have a clear inspiration but the technique of using stain and including small details makes my project stand out. If I could go back and change anything about my bookends, I would maybe make the bed a little bit taller and include another aspect to represent fairytales, such as a monster under the bed or more books.