1. Pit firing is an old method of making pottery, it is when a clay piece is essentially "cooked" in a brick oven-type of outdoor kiln using hot flames. (picture below) 2. A foil saggar is a piece of covered aluminum foil used to protect clay pieces during firing and/or add unique patterns after firing. It is a clay bow that prevents any damage or burns to a clay piece. (picture below) 3. A paper saggar is a paper bag/structure that is put around a clay piece, but the paper is covered with strips of clay-soaked (slip) paper, in several layers. (picture below) These techniques are special because the saggars add unique flows of movement to the clay that closely resembles marble. This is a smart way of making a clay piece look fancy, rather than painting it different colors.
0 Comments
I took a very extensive approach on this project. I chose to take the term "Vessel" and make a boat (Battleship) instead of a containment unit. I made even more difficult when I decided to make it out of Popsicle sticks and toothpicks as well. This project is STILL IN PROGRESS, even after 4 weeks of long work. I'm falling behind on other projects because of this, but I am determined to make this turn out like one bad-ass battleship. I figured once I was done I would paint this along with my animal head (previous project) to save time. I plan on making this boat have a very detailed deck, like this thing came in a model kit to put on a shelf.
Okay, after a heaping 6 weeks of work or so this thing is finally finished, at least in building stage. I still have to think of a painting job to put on top of this gray base coat. Although the work put into this was excruciating, I still had a bunch of fun, and judging by the feedback from my peers, I should do this more often. The "Animal Head" project was a fun activity for me to practice the figurature of animal feature that I may not have known about. I chose to make a wolf's head, but I made a misshapen skull with the clay, and it looked like more of a dog. So from there I decided to make a dog's head instead. I was told that the heads were supposed to be expressive, and with the wolf, the head would have had a growling tone to it. Now with the dog, I have a more positive approach, with even more movement in his expression. The expression for the dog is him sticking his head out of a car window. The viewer can see this in the movement of the ears and gums. After I captured the shape the next challenge was to create realistic fur on the dog. All I used was a thin, needle-type of tool the creative indentations on the clay, that of striking resemblance to fur. Now the piece is fired and awaiting a nice paint job... After painting my dog pet head I felt pretty satisfied with my work. The paint only took me a day, which I knew was going to be the easiest. All I had to do was math the color of my dog's fur to the coordinating spots, then dry brush the darks of the fur with a lighter color to give the fur affect. Not only did the paint make this head look realistic, but the way I textured the fur, and how I moved the direction of the fur to fit the contour, make this eve better.
|
Archives
May 2015
CategoriesAuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. |