Coil & Carve

For this assignment we were instructed to build a vase using clay coils. This technique is one of the most challenging techniques for me this year because keeping the shape while building up the coils was difficult. First, I started with my block of clay and began by wedging my clay until there were no air bubbles left. Next, I rolled out my clay into a long coil that was about a foot long and started to wrap the coil in a circular motion. I attached each layer of my coil with the scratch and slip method. My vase was about 2 coils long and they were each about a foot long, it ended up being about 9-10 inches tall. I smoothed out the inside coils a little bit to ensure a stable structure, and then proceeded to smooth the outside of the vase.

The second part of this assignment was to carve or use the sgraffito technique to create a design on my vase. I decided to do a couple flowers at the front of my vase with vines growing off them, wrapping all the way around the vase. I glazed this piece by filling in the vines with the C-49 (rain forest) and for the flowers I wanted them be sunflowers so I used C-60 (marigold). I for base color of the part of the vase I did not carve I used the glaze C-10 (clear) to make the green and yellow pop and the focus of my vase.

Overall, I am happy with the shape of my vase, although it was really difficult when creating because I had to make sure it wasn't lopsided and that it didn't widen at the top. I really like my carvings even though that they were simple. I am happy with the way that my glaze came out because I really like the way that the yellow and green complement each other. I like how the clear came out to giving the vase a shiny affect to it.