Feeling the Burn

This week a few of us in the upper level ceramics class took on the fun task of rakuing. None of us had ever done it before so getting started was an adventure. The first few firings didn't turn out quite like we had anticipated, we had to figure out how long to leave the pieces in the heat and how quickly they needed to go into the trash cans, but we finally figured it out and some nice pieces came out of it. As you can see from the pictures we have a pretty nice set up...haha. I had a blast doing it and really like how most of my pieces came out. The art of raku is a very stop, go go go type of process which I find myself very into. The gratification is a lot faster than with firing in an electric or gas kiln. It is exciting to find out what your pieces are going to look like too. It's like Christmas morning except we are burning the paper and the pine needles before we get to open our presents. I also really like the photo where we are intensely looking at the pieces :) that picture makes me laugh. Our art club at school "the dirt bags" are going to have a raku potluck party this Thursday so I will have more pictures of rakued art next week.

Alrighty... This week I have FINALLY made a mold of styrofoam cups. I have tried and tried to do this to no avail but the third time really is the charm I suppose. The first times that I tried to make these molds I was doing it the hard way, rightside up with nothing holding it down...not the best way. Then my professor comes in and suggests filling the cups with plaster and turning them upside down...That's why he is the professor, because it worked. I have made more lightning bolts this week, and i will eventually make molds of them and cast them in translucent slip. I have never tried the translucent slip so I am pretty excited to see how they turn out. The plan for these is to have a show with lots of suspended lightning bolts with a light in each one. The lights will be off in the room and all you will see is little blinks of lightning bolts...Im really excited about this idea! :)

9910

Alrighty, as of this past week I have gotten my screen printed cups and plate made and bisque fired. I have also gotten all of my wheel thrown pieces bisque fired and they are all ready to be glazed. I plan to continue to throw and make more utilitarian pieces as well as make new screens to print and transfer images onto my ceramic pieces. For the future I also have this plan to make quite a few lightning bolts like the one in the above picture. I am going to make molds of them and try to cast a large number of them for a show in the space lab. I am also looking forward to the raku firing that is in the works for the future.
I also thought that I would include the painting that i am working on for painting class right now. It is just about finished, with just a few minor things that i need to touch up. the project was to choose an image that shows reflection. Without choosing something that is too obviously reflective I chose paint this picture of a payphone that I took last semester in photography class. I really like this subject matter because it is almost extinct in our society today.
This is all that I have for this week...until next time.

Sweet Stuff

Here is an update of what I have been slaving over for the past week...haha. I have been trying to throw alot more than I have in the past because I think that it will be a valuable skill to have, since more people have a use for a bowl rather than a ceramic banana or a butchered baby. Anyway, now that I have been practicing I am finding the throwing experience to be a lot more fun because I am getting better at it. I am starting to throw bigger stuff and throwing the smaller stuff is becoming much easier.
I have also been working on making these bananas with gold and silver accents "rot" on them for Brian Jones, a teacher here on campus, and his wife. They started a scholar ship in honor and memory of their daughter and I was the luck recipient, so I figured as a token of my appreciation I would make something meaningful, other than the card that they make you give.
The last picture is just some fun stuff that I have been making. The bugs are screen printed onto paper and then transferred onto the bowl. This one was just a test to see if it would work and because it does I think I will be continuing to explore doing this more. The other is just drizzles of slip into the cup, I just thought it might be cool to try..it looks like white chocolate so it can't be bad.
That's all for this week!