Texture Project

This project started off as a tree with branches, but once the clay started to dry out too much, I decided to break them off and turn it into a trunk with a lid. The lid has been under glazed brown and has squiggly lines over it to create a sgraffito look.

Techniques

Slip Trailing: applying slip using a thin tube to dispense fine lines onto leather hard clay

Impressed Texture: molding texture into clay to create a print

Mishima: carving a picture and then using under glaze to fill the lines and scrape the rest off 

Sgraffito: applying glaze to the entire surface and then carving lines to reveal the clay

Sprigging: using molds to apply clay to a flat surface 

Mishima and Sgraffito

Mishima and Sgraffito

            “Sgraffito” means to scratch or mark, while Mishima means to lay slip or underglaze into a mold. In Sgraffito, you are scratching away the clay and in mishima, you are molding slip into a shape. Mishima can be used for complex shapes that must be made several times. In my opinion, sgraffito is a way to incorporate your own design.

Sgraffito	Mishima
·         Scratching and taking away ·         A decorating technique done by applying layers of colors to leather hard pottery and then scratching off parts of the layers ·         Unfired ·         Scratched to show the underlying colors/parts	·         Add slip to mold (or make your own mold) ·         Carve the design first and fill with slip or underglaze ·         Allows for extremely fine, intricate design work with hard, sharp edges ·         The clay and slip that is used should have fine particles without inclusions

Family

This project was also one of my favorites because I thought it was so clever. It is meant to be a family tree. I portrayed this by having a sign saying "family" on a tree trunk. The sign fell off several times, but once I glazed it back on, it stayed.

Artist Critique

Beatrice Wood was an American artist involved in pottery. Many people say it was hard to separate her life experiences from her work. She was born in San Francisco to a wealthy family, and later moved to New York. She traveled around Europe for the exposure to art and museums. She enrolled at the Academy Julian in Giverny, France. She thought the education was tediously academic and ran away from her chaperone and hid in an attic room. Her mother heard and came to find her. She brought her back to Paris, which switched her interest to theatre. Her mother enrolled in private acting and dance lessons. She performed on stage with leading stars of the time, including Sarah Bernhardt. With the onset of World War I, her parents moved back to New York. Her mother tried to discourage her plans for a career on stage. Beatrice joined the French National Repertory Theatre. Beatrice became unhappy so she left. Her mother hired a detective who found that she was sharing an apartment with the theatre manager. She loved acting but claimed she was beginning to be too concerned with her looks and the way she moved and looked. In 1961, she attended an exhibition of her work where her pottery stood in stark contrast to the accepted approach to ceramics. 

This specific piece is my favorite because of the colors and form. The clay was smoothed and glazed perfectly. The colors show harmony between the shades and tints of each.

Second Slab Box

My sketch was very different to what i actually made expect for the side with all the swirly lines. At first i was going to a quote and swirly lines on all of the other sides, but it would have taken too long. My favorite part of this assignment are the sides with all the colored triangles.

Practice Slab Box

This box was definitely not as good as my second, but I think it was good for a first. My slabs were not even at the top, but they were all the same thickness. The swirly lines on the side took a very long time, but it was worth it at the end.