Alternate Material

My idea for this project was a clown in a hammock on a beach. I don't exactly remember where the idea came from, but it's probably because it is getting warmer outside and summer is almost here. My idea didn't really change throughout the process, except for when one of my trees broke and I decided to replace it with an umbrella instead of fixing it. 

I started by using the slab roller to roll out the base, and I cut into a random organic shape to make it look more natural. Then I made the trees by rolling out coils and pinching the tops to be more cone shaped. I bent them slightly, because palm trees sort of lean over. (more in cartoons than in real lif I think.) When I made the leaves, I let them dry out for a little bit because they weren't able to hold their own weight when I attached them. The first three leaves attached fine, but the tree and the leaves on the other side were too dry, and I broke the tree. I was worried that the leaves might fall off because it was so fragile, but it turned out fine. After it was fired, I glazed it using SM-63, which a yellow, for the base. I used a speckled olive green glaze, PC-29, for the leaves, and a blue/brown glaze, PC-20, for the tree trunks. I didn't realize that the glaze I used for the tree trunks had some blue in it, but it ended up looking very cool.

For the alternate materials, I mostly used fabric. I sewed the body and head of the clown, but I had to use yarn for the arms and legs because they were too small. I needle felted the hair and nose, and used black acrylic paint for the eyes. I made little flowers and sunglasses out of paper and also sewed some shorts, because he needed accessories at the beach. I sewed the hammock as well, and used embroidery thread as the rope that ties the hammock to the tree. I replaced the broken tree with one of those little umbrellas for drinks. I really liked how this project turned out, especially because I struggled a lot with the size of the clown. It was hard to figure out how to make the arms and legs, but making them out of fuzzy yarn ended up looking really good. I think the only thing that I would do differently is to use underglaze and then clear overglaze, because the green on the trees is a bit darker than I wanted, and the tree trunks are a bit bluer than I wanted.

sand = SM-63

tree = PC-20

leaves = PC-29