Final Pieces!

The majority of my pieces are out the kiln now and were set up for presentation today. Unfortunately the glaze firing won't come out until Monday morning so I can't decide until then which pieces I wish to present together as a collection. For now, here are some of the more successful pieces: 

Making Bases

With my ceramic pieces in the kiln, this weekend I have been thinking about how to display them. I have decided to produce 2 ranges; a range of slipcast cocktail glasses, with nut brown glaze stain (sandblasted for a matt finish) on the outside and turquoise glaze on the inside. The others will be decorative vessels with slip (and oxides in some cases) mixed into them. My market research led me to conclude that a lot of natural materials were on trend this season. I really like the idea of a wooden base as this would fit with this and the nautical theme that I also identified within several retailers. 

My initial idea was to scoop holes out of a block of sanded wood which the pieces could sit in. 

I feel that this would suit the decorative pieces yet something a little more fun and playful should be used for the cocktail glasses. Whilst shopping for other materials I came across bamboo canes. This gave me the idea of square lashing them together to create a box, this will then be filled with sand to further emphasise the beach theme. 

More Test Pieces

For the last few weeks I have been focusing on slipcasting from my moulds. I made my own frit in the kiln, recycling glass bottles. I then mixed this into the slip and cast with it, it provided some interesting results:

I also experimented with mixing oxides into the slip to colour it:

Added to this, with some of my plain slipcasts I've tried different glazes:

Let the Slip-Casting Begin!

This morning was spent in uni getting the first slipcasts out of my coconut moulds. I've started off by leaving them in the moulds for 15 minutes. I'm thinking of making them into drinking glasses so 15 minutes provides a nice solid wall that feels sturdy yet not too delicate.

At the end of last term I pressed some glass frit into B17 Stoneware and fired this, I then added glaze and fired again yet the glass has melted into the glaze. This has resulting in the glass no longer being visible, in future I would have to add more glass to the clay or just bisque fire them. For now I will focus on testing it mixed into the slip.

Mould Making's Underway!

During the last week of term I've really focussed on getting my moulds made to a good standard so that I can slipcast my final pieces from them when I return from Easter Break. The natural three lines on a coconut has allowed me a place to put the seams without them showing too much. This has worked in my favour. I had to pull most the hairs off of the coconut before making the moulds, and ensure it was fully covered in soft soap so it didn't stick to the plaster!

Coconuts!

After drawing more exotic fruits, I became interested in the seed pods and the forms they created. Because of this I used collage, inks and posca pens to create some drawings just of nuts and seeds.

I liked the way that they came out, however, after experimentations making plaster moulds of fruit I decided against persuing that. I felt that the coconut mould was particularly successful so that is the one i'm going to take forward.  

An initial idea I had was to make a mini coconut shy:

A Move Towards More Exotic Fruits

The start of this project has been going a little slowly. I found myself drawing and drawing yet not fully satisfied with the outcomes. I decided to move onto  drawing some more exotic fruits and the colours were richer and the shapes more interesting. I feel as though these drawings have come on a long way from my initial ones. I am finally happy with them and feel as though I have a good base upon which to start my practical work. 

The Papayas are my favourite pieces. The vibrancy of the fruit and texture gave a lot to work with. 

Personal Exploration Project

For the final practical project of this year we are required to write our own briefs based on something that interests us and an area that we would like to progress into. My brief will focus on exploring the combination of ceramics and glass. These are the two materials that I'm most drawn to so would like to look at the possibility of bringing them together. I will aim to make a range of high-end functional homewares that could be bath produced.

I have started the project by doing some still life drawings of fruit and veg. I prefer the softer colours of the second two images, though the texture is denoted quite effectively in the first.