Test Tiles

Purpose - 

• To create four equally formed tiles

• To demonstrate the effects of layering glaze colors

• To develop glazing skills

• To contribute to a test tile wall for current and future ceramics students

Reflection 

Many aspects can show an artist's attention to quality of craftsmanship. For example, how smooth the edges of a piece are, the thickness of the edges/sides/bottom, and making sure everything is the same and even. Another important quality would be the neatness of the glaze and making sure that it covers the whole piece not leaving any white spots behind. Seeing all these aspects on ceramic pieces shows that the artist paid attention to the quality of craftsmanship. What I did to show quality craftsmanship in my tiles was to pay attention to each tile individually and then together, I would make sure the sizing is right on one and then compare it to the others, that way I know they are all the same size. When we rolled out the clay I paid close attention to how thick the clay was and how much more I needed to roll. Paying attention to these details is highly important. I also took my time on glazing, mapping out where each glaze would lay and how many layers, this step I gave a lot of my attention to showing very good craftsmanship. As you can see, there are many different ways you need and should show your attention to quality of craftsmanship, and I tried my best to work hard on all the aspects of my ceramics piece to show good craftsmanship.

The glaze changed way more than I expected it to, when we first put on the glazes the colors were very dull and didn’t match the names, as we layered the different color glazes over each other there was a clear difference. But once the glaze had been fired the colors mixed together and the difference wasn’t as clear as before. At first, they hadn’t really mixed together they were more just sitting on top of each other. Though when it was fired the glaze mixed/melted together to create a super cool mixed color. Another way the glaze changes is when it is fired the colors come out, and turn out to be these bright colors, that match the name of the glaze. When the glaze is first put on it is not smooth, shiny, or bright. Then when you fire it, all of those things change, it is then smooth, shiny, and bright. This actually surprised me more than I thought it would, I knew that when fired the glaze turns a different color, and becomes smooth, but what surprised me was how the glazes mixed together. When they were fired they weren’t fully mixed instead they almost swirled together and on some of the tiles, you can see both colors clearly. I think the way glaze works is really fascinating and it’s so cool to see your pieces come out a whole different color.  

I learned many different concepts from this exercise. For starters, you are able to mix glazes! I truly didn’t know how to mix glazes, I always thought you mixed them the same way someone would mix paint. But instead, you layer them on top of each other and as they are fired they melt together. Another thing I learned from this exercise was how glaze sits in texture and creates this pooling effect. It gathers up and when mixed with other glazes it swirls together to create a super cool design. I think this is a really great way to make your pieces more unique. The last thing that I will benefit from is creating super neat and exact pieces, by using rulers and small boards so you don’t roll out the clay too much. As well as making sure each surface is the same thickness and pushing in texture deep enough so you can still see it after the glaze. This exercise helped me learn many different new concepts, and how to glaze and layer glazes!