Project 1 - Stamp
Planning: At first I did not know what to make of the design, but after looking at what others have made I had the idea to make my initials on it. The initials ended up being too hard so I restarted the top and made a cat face instead, which turned out much better.
Construction Process: I first started with a simple cylinder of clay that I pushed inward on one side and kept the same on the other so that a thin handle with a wider base for the stamp design would be created. I made sure to keep the wider part of it flat so that the design can be easily made while keeping the other side tapered off. I initially decided to do my initials, which was done by making very thin strips of clay and scoring/slipping them into the stamp. Due to the small size of my stamp, this process ended up not working as expected, as the curvy part of the "D" in my first name ended up cracking or entirely breaking, and even once it finally did work there just was too much detail in too small of a space for it to look good. Afterward, I took off the letters and tried to make a cat face instead. I scored/slipped a circle with the ears onto the stamp, and tried to smooth out the edges so that it looked better. I also pushed down a lot of the base of the stamp so that the cat face popped out more and would be more effective. After this, I used a signing tool to make the cat's mouth and eyes.
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Reflection: The base of the stamp I am mostly happy with. If I were to do it again I would have started with a cylinder and circle that would be attached so that it looks more clean and geometrical rather than the somewhat weird shape I currently have. I also would have tried to smooth out the top's design more, as currently there are many "clay boogers" floating around. I would also have made the entire stamp bigger, as getting the necessary detail in such a small size is hard to do. But aside from this, I am still satisfied with how the cat's face turned out, especially given my lack of experience in doing ceramics. I think as an actual stamp it would not work that well given the changes in height on the cat's face, but as just a decorative object and not a functional one is it good enough.
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I do not have a photo of a firing ticket as I did not end up glazing this
Project 2 - Face
Planning: I wanted to do a cave-man-like face as I believed it would turn out better than a more realistic modern day human face, so I started off by looking at pictures of neanderthals online and how their facial structure was.
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Construction Process: Because I did this a very long time ago I have forgotten most of how I made this, but I will try my hardest to explain. I'm fairly certain I started with the nose, as that is what defines a face the most. Because this is a neanderthal I wanted a large nose that appeared to be "squashed" down, but the entire nose ended up looking like one long slab, which is not prefered compared to a more 3D nose with a taper. After that I moved onto the eyes, which I did by creating a hole and then putting an oval-shaped sphere into it. I wanted a large lump above the eyes given that this was a nethanderthal, so I added this on after. I finally created the lips, which I wanted to be large with a slightly opened mouth to add to the neanderthal look. Finally, I hollowed out the back side of the face.
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Reflection: I definitely found this project hard, as prior to this I had essentially no experience in 2D art, leading to no knowledge of how to construct faces, which became even more of an issue when attempting to do this in 3D. The unibrow-like mass could have been tapered in more effectively, as in the final result it just looks like it was slapped on there instead of being molded into a realistic-looking structure. I also wish I made more apparent eyelids, as currently the face looks very surprised with wide-open eyelids. The nose is also a major issue, as it has very little 3D structure or definition when going from the bottom to the top. The lips are not terrible, but due to the camera angle they look very low down on the face without any chin whatsoever, and while they are not in reality that low on the face, very little of a defined chin is present as the side profiles of neanderthals I found seemed to not have much of a chin. Lastly, I wish I made the cheekbones of the face more defined, as currently, it looks like a circle with a bunch of facial features on it, rather than being face-shaped with those facial features. But despite all this, I still think I did about as expected given my almost complete lack of experience with ceramics.
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No firing ticket is available as I did not glaze or even fire this.
Project 3 - Useful Slab w/ Underglaze
Planning: I was originally going to make a square tile with a drawing of a cat on it, but after trying to do so this was very hard to do, so I ended up making a circular tile that I planned to draw designs onto. I later moved up the edges to create more of a plate shape because I found it to be more cool looking.
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Construction Process: I started by flattening out some clay using a rolling pin, and then a lid of something (I'm pretty sure a carton of yogurt) to create an even circle shape. Before I realized I could have done this method, I used a felting knife which did not work well at all because I am very bad at making circles. After this, I moved up the edges to create a plate-like shape and began to make designs. I started from the inside with the 4 squares moving out without much of a specific pattern in mind, which I ended up regretting as will be explained later. This process I found to be very fun as I was able to use the 3D shape of the plate to add to the design of the pattern, which was seen in the circle outlining where the edge began. I also created another plate like this later but instead, as a square which was interesting, as I learned I had to make the corners at an angle to be able to attach them together to have the edges. However, the pattern and glazing used I do not like as much.
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Reflection: I am overall happy with how the first one (bottom one) turned out, as the shape of it was easy to make and turned out well as a result. If I were to create it I would start with an actual pattern in mind. In this case, I started with the 4 inner squares, which could have looked good if a different pattern for the rest of it was used. Unfortunately for these squares, the rest of the pattern is much more organic with curves and almost a flower-like appearance, which makes them stick out in a way I don't like. Instead, I could have made the "petals" around these squares fully connected to the center, but by that point, I realized that I was unable to do anything. I also wish I had done one final check for any clay boogers, as the piece ended up falling victim to a couple. The 2nd piece on the top I like the shape of, but the pattern I used ended up not complementing this very geometrical and inorganic shape, so I again wish I had more of a plan for the design. The glazing job I also did not do so well on the, and I wish I had gone over it one last time before firing it to add another coat.
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I do not have a firing ticket available, as I was not aware at the time I needed to have a firing ticket. For pieces in the future, I made sure to take a photo of it, but for this one I just was unaware.