Independent Design 

Glazes used: C-60  C-49

For this project, we were assigned to design and make something that somehow related to ourselves or to revisit a past project. I decided to make a bird bath because my dad has been wanting one for our garden, so when I told him about this project he asked if I could make one. We had a short amount of time for this project due for finals so we had to have these done in only a few class periods to meet this deadline. Because of this deadline, I decided to make my design simple to ensure that I could complete this project to the best of my ability and still finish it in time. For this project, I used a mold to make the main part and the pinch technique to make the base.

Originally, I was going to make the main part of the bird bath using the pinch pot technique but I realized that would take too long and it would be difficult to make it as big as I wanted so instead I used a mold. After the bowl itself was leather hard I used the base of a spray bottle to cut put a circle attached it to the center of the bowl then cut and formed the sun rays. I made sure that each part was the same thickness so that the sun design was shallower than the rest of the bowl. Then I made the base using a pinch pot and made sure that it sat flat on the table and that the bowl fits on the top of the base without being uneven.

As I said earlier, my dad has been wanting a birdbath for our garden, so when this project was introduced and I found out that we could essentially make anything I knew it was the perfect opportunity. I think I am proudest of overcoming my previous struggles with using molds, I am also proud of how my sun came out. I was worried that the sun would look out of place or that it wouldn't fit with the rest of the design but I really like the way it turned out. One way my work could be stronger is if I tried to make the sides of the bowl a bit more consistent.