soft slab

The task at hand was to create a set of soft slab mugs using clay, and various glaze colors. To accomplish this, I worked with sculpting, glazing and smaller clay object designs.

The subject of my creation was centered around gifts for my family. My mom is a florist and loves tulips, so I created flower at the bottom of her mug. My dad loves hiking and the outdoors, shown through the mountain at the bottom of his mug. In addition, My sister loves taking my dog on walks and enjoys spending time with her, which spurred on the idea of sculpting a realistic figure of my dog for the bottom of her mug. Lastly, I made a dog treat container for my dog to give to her for the holidays. This work was made using clay, and a variety of colored glazes.

This piece was composed using sculpting and glazing techniques. I sculpted each individually object for each mug and attached them to the bottom. I used a ----to create a smooth texture on the outside of the mugs/containers.

My work was revised when I began taping the mug in order to create a clean line between glazes. Originally, I had planed to have the mug glazed half and half; with no white space. But, as I painted I saw the white strip the tape left behind and ended up liking that design. It created a bit of natural color and texture between the color and the clay itself; hence all the middle stripes being white on the mugs.

MEANING

My project relates to my life because each of the pieces represent my family memebers. I spend a lot of time with my family, wether that be traveling or just on a daily basis. It makes me happy to gift them things that I made with them in mind.

The thing I am proudest of in my artwork is specifically the dog I sculpted at the bottom of my sisters mug. It took a lot of time to get each fragile part right, but it ended up turning out realistic to my dog and exactly how I wanted it.

In my work, I struggled with writing letters in glaze. Mid way through writing, it occurred to me that the glazes would blend together and would not be clear and easy to see. Looking back, I would revise my product specifically by using a different technique for writing with glaze.