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

Some aspects that a piece of ceramics could show about the artist’s attention and quality of craftsmanship are how neat the piece is, the attention to detail, etc. If an artist’s artwork is super sloppy then you can tell that they did not pay great attention to the quality of craftsmanship. On the other hand, if an artist’s work is super tidy and the detail is super neat, then it shows that they really tried hard on that piece and had good quality of craftsmanship. On my tiles, I tried really hard to have good quality of craftsmanship. I made the lines of the different layers of glazes as neat and as equal as possible. I also made sure that the tiles were as close to the same size as I could get them to be. 

Shockingly, there is only one tile where you can really tell that there was a different glaze layered on top. I was pretty shocked when I couldn’t tell an immediate differences with the different glazes layered. I really thought that you would be able to see a major difference because the examples we had looked at, all of them had major differences.

I learned a lot during this assignment and I think I will benefit greatly from it. Firstly, we got introduced to glazes and learned how to use them which is a very important part of making ceramic pieces and decorating them in a cool way. Another thing that I learned and will benefit from in the future is how to make things a certain size and shape. We learned how to cut and roll chunks of clay to a certain shape and size, which I think is a super important and beneficial skill to have. Lastly, I learned how to properly layer glazes and what to expect when they come out of kilm which will also be super beneficial and helpful in the future.