Towards the end of the semester is always the time for glazing and stains in my ceramic class. I wanted to work specifically with the iron glaze. This particular glaze is pretty easy to control the coloring and shade of the color. This is all dependent on the amount of iron and how many layers you decide to add on. 

The darker the shade of iron, the more layers it takes to add on. When fired in a high fire kiln, the most layers of iron will take on a dark purple to black bronze color.

The lighter the iron on the piece will turn a light brown to a burnt orange color. I accomplished the lightest shade of orange by adding on one coat of the iron and taking a sponge dipped in water to remove as much iron as possible until it is just stained bisque ware.

I also experimented with two tones and mixing glazes to created different coloring than the glazes provided in class. These two were done with the glazes Temmoku, Leach Clear, and Wood Ash. 

With this piece, I wanted to continue with the process of carving negative space out of my pottery, but instead of drawings and figures that I have drawn out, I wanted to do just a simple design circling the piece without being symmetrical. I was trying to figure out what kind of design would completely circle the piece, and I thought of Wind.  I did three different levels of carving making it more 3 dimensional.

I also wanted to practice with just simple forms that could possibly be acceptable for future lids. I wanted to keep the round for without getting too concerned with the native american form that I have been practicing with. I just focused on getting it smooth and perfectly symmetrical. 

I did continue to work on the native american form that I somewhat got away from just to keep the feel and pattern in my work. I stayed with the simple small, large, small scale. I have found out that this is the form that comes most naturally to me when throwing on the wheel.

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The third and final piece of my triptych assignment for my 3D Art Foundations class. This was the subtractive piece. I went about it like the other two by transferring my drawings and design onto a piece of white paper towel and then laying the paper towel on top of the green ware and went over the designs slightly to to make a subtle mark for a guide.. I then subtracted clay with carving utensils to make the image look like it fades into space.

After finishing up the tiles, I wanted to go back to throwing on the wheel and continuing to get the shapes and forms that I have been studying from past artists like Joel Queen. I've practiced on numerous pots getting the smooth continuous edging, but now my goal is to gradually get the pots larger each time I throw. Hopefully this will give a little different variety to my art work.

After throwing a number of pots with the shape and thickness I was going for, I then decided which piece would be best for carving, and think enough to let me achieve multiply layers instead of just one dimension. The piece to the left is one that I wanted to try something new and make it a more modern design. 

I wanted to combine strait lines with curvy ones to separate the "outside pot" form the multiple "inside" layers.. I was aiming to make it have a feel of multiple pots in one. I wanted the biggest design on the pot, which is the V's, to be going inward instead of outward so it the eye in, while the subtle curves make you aware of the surface plain.

For the last semester i've been trying to find my niche and style in the ceramics room. I've been exploring different forms and shapes based off of my Western Cherokee heritage. Basing my pottery off of old Twill plaited Baskets, and pottery form artist like Joel Queen and Matriarch Charlotte Welch Bigmeat. 

Joel Queen 

Joel Queen

A few of my pieces were created with Joel Queen style's in mind as seen to the right . He created pottery resembling old Western Cherokee forms with a round geometric feeling starting small at the bottom and gradually getting larger toward the top.

Glazed with a Blue/Green Copper glaze.

Glazed with Blue/Green Copper and Iron.

On these two pieces of pottery, I attempted to get the smoothest possible surface while throwing on the wheel. I wanted all of the lines to be as flowing as possible without any break in the motion. I added Grooves to one of them to add texture and movement at the base of the piece.

Matriarch Charlotte Welch Bigmeat

My Bear Carvings piece was inspired by Matriarch Charlotte Welch Bigmeat. She experimented with carving geometric patterns and figures into her pottery. 

This Piece had quite a process that came along with it. I started out first by throwing just the simple round structure on the wheel. Then I had to decide what pattern I wanted to use on the top and bottom, and also decided on the form of the bear to put in the middle. I started with a few simple sketches and then transferred the sketches onto the pot by outlining the design with a pencil. I then started to carve away clay little by little. 

I glazed this using Blue/Green Copper on the inside and multiple layers of Iron Oxide on the outside to achieve the dark rustic purple color. 

After experimenting with carvings, I decided that I was going  to transfer carvings onto flat surface tiles inspired by a tryptic assignment from my 3D Foundations class. I wanted to do some sort of pattern along with a modern figure using only shapes and lines making one additive, one subtractive, and one flat.