Final Reflection

I am the proudest of my raku butterfly. I love the color of the wings and the detail on the wings. It’s so simple but it makes it so much more elevated and pretty. I like learning about raku firing and doing it at Portland Pottery. It was really fun to see our work being lined up in the kiln, and then get to put it in the buckets of woodchips and then dunk them in the water. It was also a beautiful day, and overall I had a great day learning about raku firing. The butterfly came out the best of my raku pieces, and I think I like it the most out of all my pieces this semester.

The bowl-throwing project definitely taught me the most. It taught me a lot about throwing and patience. I learned to pay attention to the size and shape of my clay and the way that my hands impact the clay. Even the littlest difference could make a noticeable difference in the way the bowls differ from each other. This made me appreciate the work ceramicists do, especially the ones who make sets of things. It’s very difficult to repeat the same work over and over.

This semester one of my goals was to improve my throwing skills, which I definitely did. The bowls project definitely helped a lot with that. I learned how to center better, and my pulling and shaping skills also improved. I also wanted to incorporate nature and my favorite colors into my work, which I definitely did. I had a lot of nature in my words on ceramics piece, and all my pieces have colors that I like. I wanted to make some kind of lantern, but I didn’t get the chance to. I hope to do that next semester.

Goals for the Semester

I like to see nature and the colors that I like in my work. I also like to see different shapes and designs in the work that I came up with.

I hope to become better at throwing on the wheel this semester. It's very calming and enjoyable so far, and I hope that I can improve my skills.

I think it would be fun to make some sort of cylinder with holes to put around a candle and make it look like a lantern.