Music vs Ceramics

     In ceramics, practice probably would not end in perfection, but none the less it would make us better.  Up above is my beautiful display of "bad results".  The bowl always had that crack because I pushed through it when I was trimming and had to glue it back.  The nails turned out darker brown when they were supposed to be a orangish-brown and my combination vessel has a paddy stuck to it permanently; however, these bad results can all be prevented with practice.
     I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about my other hobby.  Not only am I an artist, but I am also an artist in another way, music.  I have been playing guitar since 2003, but I am not all that great.  I can play a little, but I don't know a whole lot of chords, and I only write my own stuff.  Not only do I play guitar, but I also play piano.  I am not a pianist, but I can play a couple things, but I mainly write my own stuff like what I do with guitar.  The 3rd instrument I play and have been playing for 20 years since I was 5, is drums.  I don't get much time to practice because of my all day school/work schedule, but I try to play them on the weekends.
    Practice is the key to music.  I've played more of the guitar over piano so I am better at that; however, I have played a whole lot more of drums than guitar so I am 10 times the drummer than I am guitarist.  The reason, because of the time I have put in.  The same applies to ceramics.  I am not a good ceramic artist because I haven't put in the right amount of time.  When I am getting frustrated on the wheel, I just need to relax and know that "practice" will make "better".  Next semester, I hope to get better results because I really want to become that well rounded artist...

Total Meltdown

     This semester has not been the way I have wanted it to be.  As I've said in past blogs, my vessels and my mugs didn't achieve what I wanted them to achieve.  I had paddies stick to the bottoms of my vessels very badly.  It was a meltdown of epic proportions...  The jug turned out a much lighter brown than what I really wanted.  I expected the jug to be dark brown and for the smallest vessel a bluish-purple color.  Instead, I got the brown I intended for my jug.  Needless to say, this has been a very awkward semester; however, if only I had put in more time and effort, my results may been twice as good.  But, the glazing is something that takes a lot of practice to get just the right color and we do not always have control.  I see more and more people who do not get the color they originally wanted.  I had this trouble last semester with one of my pieces as I mentioned in previous posts.
     Next semester, I am honestly going to go crazy and put in long hours and the studio if that is what it takes.  I would like to become a well rounded artist, one who can do it all.  In order to do that, one must practice..

Mugs

    
     Just like my bowls, the effort put into my mugs was no where near what it should have been.  Personally, I believe I had more trouble with the mugs than I did with the bowls, only because with the mugs you have to really bring your sides up, but when it comes to the bowls, you still have to bring them up but in a way, things just work out naturally.  Due to centrifugal motion, bowls have a tendency to want to form outward.  What I am trying to say is that when you are throwing mugs, by leaning in and placing yourself directly over the wheel, it makes it a lot easier to throw forms strait upward, but with bowls they form at an angle creating that bowl shape a lomost on their own.
     With mugs, not only do we need to create the forms themselves, but we also have got to create the handles which has its own separate part.  After creating the mugs, we then take a thin piece of clay and pull downward using water which creates the handle.  After we get the handle the way we want it, we have to set them aside to dry a little.  After both the mugs and handles have dried a little, we can then combine the two.
     In all theory, mugs don't take any longer than bowls because with bowls, we have to trim them after they have become leather hard....With mugs, we create the forms and have to pull handles.  The both of them require two stages...Next semester, I plan on pushing myself with mugs if that is what we will be working with....    

Bowls

    
     My bowls this semester did not turn out the way I had wanted them to...One of my bowls ended up with a crack down the center.  I had wanted one of my bowls to turn out blue and that is exactly what it did, but as a result of the poor glazing I had done, the glaze ran and I ended up with more than I wanted.  I then had to use a machine to chisel extra paddy off. 
     When I was first creating the bowls, I had a lot of difficulty getting the bowls centered on the wheel.  I would have to say that the hardest thing about throwing for me is first getting my clay centered on the wheel.  The next thing would have to be pulling my clay up to the top to increase the size of the piece and to thin it out.  I think my biggest problem with the wheel is that I didn't give myself enough time to get used to it and to really bond with it, lol.  It is very important for artists when first starting out to practice, otherwise we will never get better as artists.  Next semster, I really plan on challenging myself and really putting in a lot of effort. 

End of the Semester

     The end of the semester has finally come, but I am not all that satisfied with my pieces of art I created in ceramics this semester.  The craftsmanship of my pieces didn't turn out all that well.  A lot of my mugs didn't turn out all that great as you can see above.  One of them has thumb prints and the bowl has marks where I bumped it up against something else.  Overall, the quality of my work didn't look good when it came to the throwing and the glazing.  The fact is, I didn't spend enough time on the wheel to really get the feel for throwing.  I have no one else to blame, but myself.  Yes, I am a part-time student who also works, but I have got to find the right balance between both school and work.  School is very important and my artwork is even more important because it happens to be my major.  Art is what is going to get me my future job.
     Next semester, I will be taking Ceramics 3 so it is imperative that I put in twice the effort as I put in this semester for that the ceramic courses only get more difficult as we move forward.  I hear Ceramics 3 is much more challenging the Ceramics 2.  Looks like I will be spending a lot of Sunday afternoons at school, but if it means both my throwing and glazing will improve, that is enough to keep my motivated.  See you next semester Brian....

The Future of my Artwork SUCCESS

   
      For the future, I would like to push myself even more than before...I would like to really challenge myself to see if I have what it takes to create even better pieces of artwork...Last semester, I was more successful with my pieces because I didn't have too many problems with my glazing... My pieces didn't get the golden chisel award and they also turned out the way I wanted them to when it came to the glazing, except for the elephant foot because it turned out gray with blue colors mixed through out the piece.  My ceramic head I did had some air bubbles in it which I wasn't too happy with that but, what can you do? Ceramics is something you can't always expect to be perfect every time you have a go at it, but with the right attitude and patients (the key) you can do anything.  Patients is something I don't really have, but I am learning to develop it because it is very important to have and it must be practiced at all times....
     For the Fall, I will be taking Ceramics 3 so I plan on really pushing myself.  I want my pieces to look how I planned on them looking with little or no mistakes...In order for me to do that, I must be patient and continue to put in the effort they require.  

Glazing #2

 

The quality of my glazing wasn't as good as I had expected...I have a lot of pieces that earned the golden chisel award...Granted, to some degree these things can't always be prevented if you do not know how badly the glazes run because some glazes will run a lot more than others.  The important thing is to make sure that your pieces are wiped off at the bottom with only a finger nail in thickness left at the bottom.
    Another thing that I wasn't satisfied with was the fact that some of my glazes didn't turn out the way I had expected them to...I made sure to apply the glazes in the correct order, A over B or vice versa.  I did have to go back and correct some of my pieces so that the there were little or no finger prints.  I also had to make sure that I did not put the coatings on way too thick...
The most important thing I learned this semester is to leave a finger nail thickness at the bottom.  Personally, I believe if I had done that from the beginning, it would have prevented a lot of the problems that I am currently having...

Glazing

  

      We've reached the last stage of Ceramics, glazing so over the course of the semester I've put a lot of thought into what I would like my  pieces to look like based on their craftsmanship.  Things didn't start out looking all that great at the beginning of the semester, but I've learned to accept it.  At first, my water jug turned out looking deflated and one of my crosses and its nails broke several times. 
     Because the crosses are crooked and reminded me of historical tombstones/graves, I've come to the consensus that I am going to glaze them to look like old, wretched crosses.  The nails are to look rustic with one cross black on the outside and red in the middle symbolizing blood.  The other is to look like an old tombstone with moss or algae growing from it.  These aren't your typical crosses with tribal design or finely cut wood crosses. Jesus was crucified!  His crucifixion was the only answer, but for me it was never the less the most tragic and unfortunate occurrence in all history.   These crosses symbolize death, but they are fortunate pieces in that they represent what hope and prosperity there is no matter what the sorrow is.
     As for my 1st project, I know that the colors are going to be brown with a vanilla/cream color.  I want for my water jug to look like an old whiskey jug from the 18th and 19th centuries. (if you don't all ready know what I am talking about, go to your closest Blockbuster store and rent a western ASAP, Clint Eastwood movies will do). When you look at these jugs that drunks intoxicated themselves with you notice their brown and cream colors.  The top half is normally brown with a cream bottom.  The normal water jug for waitress water refilling now becomes - "a blast from the past with this all new alcohol jug, perfect for parties and unnoticed drop bys." As for my third project, I plan on keeping the colors the same.  Most Bull Terriers are white and black so I am going to keep things original.