ceramics elective!

the brief we were given for ceramics was to investigate 2 different objects and reinterpret the texture and shape through ink drawings. i choose a large pikey seed and a white piece of coral. the 2 objects were very different from each other, but i thought that the coral  was more interesting.

we then were shown how to create pinch pots, which is one of the simpliest forms for pot making. we were given a lump of clay which we formed into a small ball in our hand. then stick your thumb into the center and use your outside fingers and thumb to pinch and increase the size of the hole. as the bowl gets bigger make sure to volumise and dont let in turn into a saucer. you must keep the walls of the bowl thick enough to keep it stable. once you are happy with the size you can use a spoon to smooth and increase the size of the bowl. use your fingers to even out the rim and there you have a pinch pot!

we then were shown how to throw a bowl down in the ceramics department, , it was a lot harder to do then it looked, we were given a lump of clay which was then "thrown" onto the potters wheels, water was added and then i had to create a cylindrical shape with the clay moving it up and down as the wheel spun. once i was happy with the shape i made a hole in the clay, using my fingers i pushed the clay out towards me making a bigger, thinner vessel, i then had the pinch both the inside and outside the pinch upwards to make it taller. using a ceramic tool the bottom of the bowl was shaped. using my fingers i then had to even and round the rim. using a piece of wire i cut the bowl from the wheel, it was given a few days to dry out before it was thrown.

a few examples of ceramic oieces we were shown by kieren:

 naked raku

once our pots were dry we then did some naked traku in the outside kiln, a layer of slip was poured onto the pits and once dry another layer was added, marked could then be added so that they were turn black from the smoke. then were then fired and once done they were placed into containers od saw dust, they were left cool down for half an hour and then placed into water. then slip was then peeled off leaving a white and black surface.

Sculpting!

i came to lsad with my heart set on doing sculpting. didnt think it was possible but want to do it even more now. The first day we had to through out any word that was associated with sight, smell, taste, temperature, hearing, pulse and blood pressure and touch. at the end of this exercise we were to do the verbs of the words on the pages and then we had to pick our 20 favourite words and narrow them down to 1.

i picked stretch as my word as i thought it could be very versatile and it would let me experiment with a variety of different materials.

i got a load of plastic bags and stretched them across the wall to a chair. although it looked quite interesting i didnt think it properly conveyed the word stretch.

i then decided to get cling film and stretch i from the wall to the floor. i was pretty happy with the outcome. was a bit of a pain a times because the cling film and sellotape kept sticking to each other... and me! but once i got the hang of it i was happy with how it looked

i enjoyed messing around with the cling film but found there was only so much i could do with it given the space i had in the studio. i thought the cling film almost gave the effect of water or rays of light so found this prettty interesting and worth investigating further. i also liked the transparent effect the cling film gave.

 at the moment i'm working with translucency on the side but still looking at stretching. i begun to look at how fabric stretches and drapes. i got a few meters of skrim and stretch from the wall to the floor, this gave a completely different effect them th e cling film

 i then decided to soak the fabric in liquid latex to see what effect in gave

painting elective!

i was pretty excited to start the painting elective as it is one of my options for next year. we were told to bring in objects of a certain colour, mine was purple, and turn them into installations. it was interesting to see how the colours worked together and how some didnt. from this exercise i learned the importance of complementary colours.

the next exercise were did was drawing tables blind without looking at what we were painting. this was a challenge because i kept looking back at what i was painting, it was a habit i had to break.

we then set up an other installation using our coloured objects as well as table, black refuse backs and tin foil. i quite liked this because i also have a love for sculpting. we then did bling drawings of the installations using the 3 primary colours. after this we moved onto tone but using 3 differnt shades of the shame color