Week 6

This week has been a pretty busy one. I made two molds, one was a two-part mold of 2 lemons and the other is a small to-go box, which is a one-part mold. The lemons are for a show that I am trying to put together in the space lab. I am trying to get a few fellow students to go in with me and do a
hip-hop themed show. The lemons represent a song that is popular in the hip-hop world. I am very excited about this show because I think that it is going to be very interesting and something that IUS has not seen before. It is also exciting because I am sort of the curator of the show.
I also tried to make the brass knuckles mold for the second time and it did not work again. i am thinking that there are some under cuts in the finger holes which is making it get stuck in the mold. I don't want to give up on this idea so i can either use plastoscene and maybe fill the spaces that I think are getting stuck, or I was thinking that I could get a pair of plastic ones. Either way I am going to be making a mold of these brass knuckles eventually.
I did the first pour into the large to-go box and it looks like it is going to be a good mold. I tried to get the cast out too soon after it was poured and it tore in a few places but the first pour doesn't really count as a keeper. I also got a few bottles and a 2-liter finished this week.


I also got my mugs glazed this week. Getting things glazed is always a relief, because it is the final step to being finished. Ceramics is such a long process, and there are a hundred things that you are trying to work on, so to be at the final step on a project is a good feeling.

Week 5

I casted the 2-liter bottle this week and it turned out really good. I am happy with the detail in the wrapper and the cap, although there are a few places where the plaster didn't get smooth i don't think that it hurts the look of the bottle any.

Earlier in the week I got all of my bowls thrown and trimmed and was suprised at how easy it was. I seemed to make the bowls a lot faster than the cylinders and they look more professional than the cylinders too. I cannot wait to throw out my old bowls and use the ones that I made.

I also made a mold of a pair of brass knuckles this week as well as a styrofoam to-go box. I am going to use the brass knuckles as a handle on the styrofoam cups to make mugs out of them. I want to put them into a show or my white trash show with the names "mugged", "Muggers' ...ect. I will probably glaze the brass knuckles with gold and silver luster.
i plan to make a few other to-go boxes and possibly stack them into a pile or possibly have just one or a few, i haven't decided yet. I am thinking that the title of this piece will be 'For here or forever' to represent just one of many ways that we use trash and then discard it later.
We get to-go boxes because we don't want to waste food, and we don't even think about wasting the box, and how it is going to be on the Earth for years to come.

Week 4

I did the first casting of my 2liter bottle mold and I am super excited about it. It worked!! It is so smooth and perfect, and it should be after working on making the mold for five days. I got too impatient on taking it out though and it ripped apart at the seams, But that's ok because it is so awesome.
I also have been working on my mugs this week and they are coming out pretty well. I have always hated putting handles on perfectly good cups but these are looking alright. I tried a bunch of different shapes and quite a few different handles, some more conventional than others.


My project for the critique this week was of my styrofoam cups. I am going to be glazing the cups in "pretty" glazes. Trying to make something that is considered cheap and very disposable into fine porcelain cups fitted with traditional blue glazes, gold and silver luster, and possibly some crystals.
I am going to be using these different pieces of trash for different projects, and then in the end they will be put together. Sort of a means to an end. Much like trash is. The bottles, boxes, ect. that we throw away all the time are just a means to what is inside of them and once that is gone they mean nothing. and they are sent to the landfill