Bird & Tray

• Purpose: Explore pinching a sculpture, texturing slabs, and utilizing glaze technique

• Reflection:

I learned a lot about clay construction from these two projects, specifically how proportion and uniformity tie into different pieces. While constructing my bird piece, I had to think about what I wanted the proportions to look like for my desired vision. For example, I knew I wanted a smaller piece, so I tried not to elongate the clay when I began molding it. I also knew I needed the head to be a bit bigger, thicker, and denser than the rest of the body, so I left myself an area with more clay to work with. I then added the line texture along the back of my bird, trying to add a more symmetrical aura to its unique proportions. Contrastingly, when creating the tray, I thought more about keeping uniformity while building it. I focused on my measurements and cutting precisely, then foam pressing it correctly and adding diverse textures. I pressed a gridded plastic sheet over the clay and then pieces of braided rope, which wonderfully disrupted the clean-cut uniformity of the tray. Some specific do’s and don'ts I learned for these two projects were do: fill in cracks, hollow out dense areas, press texture in deep enough, place in an airtight container(or bag) to extend malleability and don’t: leave on surfaces that extract moisture, make one area too thin, or leave crumbs where the texture was carved. Something that I learned that surprised me is how quickly you sometimes needed to work with the clay. I found, specifically in my bird piece, that cracks and dryness were prevalent; I often found myself using little bits of water to smooth over some stubborn cracks. 

I similarly learned a lot about glazing during these two projects. The bird piece was especially helpful because we got to experiment with staining our textures with underglaze. I used Lilac underglaze to stain the line texture along the body of my bird and then painted over that with Light Green; I then chose Petal Pink for the beak. For the tray project, we got the chance to explore layering glazes on top of each other. I layered Tawny and Moss Green for the inside of the tray, then used Gray on the outside edges. It was interesting to see how the glazes came out of the kiln after firing and how they reacted with each other. What surprised me about both of my pieces was how vibrant they were. I wasn’t sure what to expect, seeing as I hadn’t seen these colors fired before, but they both came out with a striking brightness. What didn’t surprise me was how much they changed. When you apply the glaze to your clay it is very thick and matte, but once fired it is glossy and colorful. I would like to learn more about the different tricks you can use while glazing, especially how to create the illusion of a gradient.