Week Three Reflection

My Third and final week on my ceramics project went just as well as my previous two. I engaged in helping Patrice handle her share day group, preparing the slabs for the kids to work with and then firing and glazing them because they were unable to come back and complete them.
This week I continued on with creating my final products trimming and glazing the bowls, cups and plates and making handles for the plates. It was challenging when I had to make the handles, as this is something I am not good at so I had to go through a few handles until I was satisfied with what I had done. In addition this week I had to decided upon whether I was going to do all the plates one color and then all the bowls another color and all the cups one color, or whether to do choose four colors and use one from each set to form there own set with another pot. I decided that I would go for the second option so that I could therefore has a set of a bowl, plate and cup for each member of my family. I was happy with my decision to do this and the outcome looks great.
This week also I was able to see a professional lamp maker go to work in our ceramics studio and see up front how someone can make something so tall and wide on the wheel. This fascinated me and it grew me to become even fonder of ceramics.
This being my last week I am sad that this is coming to a close but am happy that everything went so smoothly and that I was able to pick up new skills and improve on the things I already knew. Seeing all my work being put together and finally seeing the final outcome was good and I was relieved with how everything came out.

Day Fifteen

Today I began once again at 11:00 AM and this time my cups had completed being brisk fired and were now ready to be glazed. In addition I had extra pots that I had done in preparation for getting to getting to my final products so I had a lot of glazing to get done. I began by waxing the bottoms off all of them. Then I got the glazes and began by glazing the four I and using for the set, continuing to use the same glaze I used for the plates and bowls. Then with the remaining pots I had I experimented with the different glazing using two colors to make interesting colors. I look forward to seeing how these turn out.
After this I ran the pug mill for my final time and then cleaned the surfaces that I had been working on. Now I have all of my pots glazed and ready to go through a final firing where they will come out as my finished products. I am extremely anxious to see how they are going to come out, and fingers crossed they look good.

Day fourteen

Today I came to the ceramics room at 11:00AM where my plates were on the table after being through the brisk firing and I was happy with how they have turned out. So then I lay them out and began putting the wax on the bottoms to prevent the glaze getting on them. After the wax had dried I brought out the glazes, stirred them and grabbed the tongues to clasp on to the plates as I put them in the glazes. Again I used the colors I previously used on the bowls which were Galaxy blue which was both black and floating blue, raspberry, kidder blue and brown.
After glazing my plates I helped out a little bit with preparing for the art show that is tomorrow night. Pictures from photography, paintings from art and pots from ceramics will be on display for everyone to see and so I helped with putting the pictures up on the wall. Because I had to wait for my cups to be brisk fired I could not continue with more glazing but will be able to complete this last set tomorrow and then look forward to the final outcome as they come out of the second firing.

Day Thirteen

Today I started at 9:00 AM and began by running the pug mill. I ran this quite a few times so that Patrice had enough clay to last going in to the summer. Then to end with I left some really dry clay and really wet clay in there mixed over night so that it could be reproduced tomorrow. After this I had to decide on the colors I wanted to glaze my bowls. I decided that I wanted to do different color bowls and then match the colors to the cups and plates. My theory behind this was so that say my Mum could have raspberry, Dad galaxy blue, Brother kidder blue and myself brown. But before I could glaze them I had to put wax on the bottom. this is so that the glaze doesn't get on there and therefore causing the glaze to run when being fired. So once I had put the wax on all the bowls and let them dry for a little bit I chose my colors and stirred the bucket and then dipped the bowls in the bucket. My first bowl needed two colors to form a galaxy lookin blue, which was black first and then floating blue and the others were just one colors. I hope that these colors turn out nice and am anxious to see how it goes.

Day Twelve

I began my day at 11:00AM being inspired by the visitor once again. He continued to work on the piece he did yesterday and created a new piece, which if he was staying around would place on top of the first one making one big piece. It amazing how he works on the wheel and gave good advice on ceramics and how to go about it. After this I began trimming my cups some more. Instead of trimming the bottom I also did the inside. I had to do this because they were feeling rather heavy an so trimming the inside will give the cup better shapes and enable them to hold more while making them lighter at the same time. All my cups vary but I am pleased with how they have turned out and my handles aren't as bad as i thought they were. Then once all the cups were trimmed I used a sponge to smooth it out. Today wasn't as hectic as yesterday but I am relieved I have all my wet work complete and now all that is needed is for my plates and cups to go through the brisk firing and then glaze them. I ended my day at 2:00 PM and I feel that this week is starting off as a good week and I look forward to the further outcomes of my work.

Day Eleven

Today was a long day. I began my morning at 7.50 AM just as Patrice had asked in order to prepare for the kids coming for share day. We had to prepare slabs for them so that they could cut out clay from the templates and create a cup that way. Also while this was going on we had a visitor who was a former student here and is now a man of his own business making lamps. He showed us his skills with ceramics and it was amazing.
After this busy morning I continued on to running the pug mill. Once this job was done I started to work on my cups. They had become too dry to put a handle on straight away so I had to put damp tissue in the area that I wanted the handle to go. Then I was able to make the handles, this being something I am not great at, then while they sat to dry I trimmed the cups. Once both aspects were complete I used a needle tool to mark the spot in which i wanted both ends to go and then placed slip on these two places. Placing the ends carefully in to position on the cup I had my handles on. To finish it up I got a sponge and smoothed the area out.
Today I feel I got a lot done with my cups ending at 2:00 PM and will begin to continue on with them tomorrow and possibly glaze my previous work.

Week Two Reflection

My second week on my ceramics project followed on nicely from the first week. Learning new skills and techniques and continuing to help Patrice out whenever I could. Where as last week was centered a round picking up the arts of throwing and starting out with bowls, I was now working on plates.

I new that to begin with this week wasn’t going to be easy with learning a new skill and certainly I knew it would take time to fully grasp it. Making plates is different to making bowls or cups or vases because you need a bat that goes on top of the wheel, thus making it easier for you to pick the plate up, and then having to center it and pull up and down forming a flat base for the plate. It’s not easy and becomes difficult when having to make it centered. However each time I made a plate it seemed to improve, whether it be how centered it was or how the walls and rim of the plate looked.

As with the previous week, this week I continued to run the pug mill producing the slabs of clay. Doing this gives me a break in between throwing my pots and also takes a load off Patrice’s back so that she doesn’t have to do it. This week has been enjoyable, I think that making plates is my favorite now and I hope to make more in the future because I know there is still much room for improvement.

Towards the end of this week I finished throwing plates and moved on to cups. I began by practicing different styles with the different shapes available to help me decide how I want to go about making my four cups. I feel that I got a lot done this week and am excited to begin my cups and get the wet products fired and ready to be glazed next week.

Day Ten

Today I arrived at the art building at 11:00AM knowing I was going to be meeting with Patrice to discuss and prepare for Monday morning where kids will be coming to take part in ceramics. I began by helping Patrice clear off some table space for the kids to work on and helped her decide on how we will go about glazing and firing the pots they make. After this I began running the pug mill, checking on the clay that we left over night to see if it was suitable for use. It wasn't ready and so we had to mix the clay once more so that the texture would be perfect for throwing.
After this I began throwing some cups. I threw different shapes so that I could decide on one that I want to try and stick with and attempt to make four others alike. I feel like I am beginning to get the hang of making cups with using less clay and making the cylinder shape. I have begun to make the walls thinner which is good because I always seem to make them too thick.
So by the end of the day I have made six cups 4 of them varying in shape and size where as two looking similar. I am still unsure of what shape I want to do so I will have to make that decision on Monday so I can begin adding handles and firing them.

Day Nine

Today I began at 11:00 AM moving on to cups, therefore practicing my cylinder shape centering as to a more flatter one with the plates. Also making cups requires less clay than making plates so I had to get used to the change in size. So I started practicing my cups with the first one not coming out well as I went down to much when putting the whole in the clay to open up the bottom, so I had to begin again. I cleared off that clay and wedged a new piece. This time it worked a lot better and I was able to get the cylinder shape. After getting this I began shaping the cup to the way I wanted giving it a curve towards the bottom and coming in again at the top. It turned out to be a bit too wide at the bottom but this is all just practice in figuring out what I want to achieve when making my cups.
Then I went on to working the pug mill when Patrice had a class as it seemed a bit too hectic and it would be helpful for her to have more clay strips available. Patrice and I noticed that we had a lot of dry clay hanging around and also a lot of wet clay so we decided to try and mix these two together to hope the pug mill will produce clay that is appropriate to use. In order to do this we had to leave the mixed clay in the pug mill over night and continue the process tomorrow.
This evening I came back to the art building to continue practicing my cup shapes because I tend to struggle with forming shapes I am happy with and shapes that I am able to be constant with. Today I filled my required three hours of work.

Day Eight

I went to the art room early this morning to check how my plates were looking and to see whether they were dry enough to begin trimming. Unfortunately they weren't so I had to wait. The power was out for a long time today in the art building so I was unable to throw more on the wheel and so I decided to continue my work in the evening. Thankfully by the time I arrived in the art building my plates were dry enough to trim. I began by trimming my first plate I made as it wasn't as good as the others and tested out what way I wanted to trim it. Whether I did a flat base or if I did a foot ring, and in the end I decided to just keep them all flat. So I trimmed each plate one by one making them as good as I could get it taking my time. After this I put all six of them out and grabbed a tub of water and sponge to clean them up. I did this so that the bottom and sides would be smooth and ready for a firing. I ended my night at 10:00 PM looking forward to tomorrow where I will be glazing my bowls and beginning my cups.

Day Seven

Today was an early start for me beginning at 8.15 and getting right to it. Yesterday I began my step to making plates and that is where I started today. I set up the wheel ready for me to make a plate and began to go to work. Surprisingly I had remember well what I needed to do. Bringing the clay up and back down again a few times to make sure I had it as centered as possible. Then I began pulling it out to make it into a bowl shape. The first plate I made today was better than my one yesterday but still wasn't quite what it was supposed to look like. After making this first plate, it was looking better today than yesterday so while I was in the swing of it I made as many as I could hoping to improve each time. This time I had the book in front of me so I could follow the steps and sort out the edges of the plate to make them look better. I continued on with my bowl and then Patrice informed me that the bottom wasn't flat so I then had to keep watching this on my bowls to come and use a tool to help me flatten this out.
So during my time today I finished with six plates that I was extremely pleased with seen as though this is new to me. I placed all these in the fridge ready to be trimmed tomorrow. I ended my day at lunch getting a lot done in this day.

Day Six

I made my way to the ceramics room at 9:30 this morning. It was a slow start as I began by organizing my paper work and handing a few things in. Then as I saw Patrice she wanted me to run the pug mill to mic some more clay. This is becoming a daily routine now and I am pretty comfortable in doing it and don't mind helping Patrice out with it. Then after making numerous amount of clay strips I moved on to thinking about making my plates. I knew that this was going to be a challenge so Patrice handed me a book to look at the different ways I could go about making my plates. I decided on the style I'd like to do and so then Patrice showed me how by her first demonstrating it herself. I have made a plate before but out of a slab, never on a wheel. It followed the basic ways of making anything else, centering the clay first and then going in on the center. But ofcorse it wasn't going to be as easy as it sounds.
My first attempt was pretty horrible, it was tricky getting the clay centered as I now have to use more clay than usual and then I messed it up by pushing the clay outwards to early. So I took the clay of the wheel and started over. The next time I came to making it I had Patrice check in with me, guiding me through the steps so hopefully I wouldn't make any more mistakes. Although it didn't look quite like Patrice's plate, it was good enough for a first complete attempted but turned out to be a little bit on the small side, therefore telling me that I need to use more clay next time.
I felt that I should end my day there at 12:30. Today was a stressful day because I was beginning to learn a new trait and it wasn't coming as easy as I hoped. Tomorrow I'm sure I will be able to progress from where I am at now.

Week One Reflection

I feel that my first week working in the ceramics room making my pots was extremely enjoyable and productive. I learned more skills relating to ceramics with mixing the clay to make the strips ready to be wedged, improving my techniques with trimming, conquering centering the clay on the wheel and smoothening out the rim of my bowls so they are not sharp. All this learning will hopefully enable my work to be much better.

Patrice has been very helpful in guiding me in my project, giving me jobs to do and giving me pointers on how to make a good bowl. I feel that my work in the ceramics room has improved and I am looking forward to seeing how I can continue to improve on my techniques. This week has been a week for me to get back into the swing of throwing again and I have been able to produce six bowls ready to be fired and later glazed.

In addition this week I have learned to use different resources other than what I see other students make. I explored the Internet and scanned through some books to look at the different styles and textures available in the world of ceramics. I plan to continue this research when I begin to make the cups and plates.

I had a fun first week and I am anxious to see what I can bring to the plate in the next two weeks of my project. I feel that I am going to have to be more patient in these upcoming weeks as the tasks are going to be much more demanding.

Day Five

Today I started at 10:00AM starting where I left off the day before that is trimming my bowls. I feel that each time I trim another bowl my technique improves so I am glad that I made enough bowls to get that practice. I managed to get another two of my bowls done before I met with Patrice. Then I began by mixing more clay into strips for the class and myself to use. Each day this job needs doing as many pots are done during the day. I'm glad I am able to help Patrice out with this so she doesnt have to do it. I feel pretty comfortable doing this without her looking over my shoulder now so each day I am progressing to being knowledgable of the ceramics area. So after making three bags of clay ready to be wedged I got back to my trimming and continued to touch up the last bowl, smoothing it out with a spunge afterwards and putting my signature sign on the bottom of it. This is so that I am able to recognize which are mine and also make it personal. So now I have all my bowls complete and ready to be fired. I ended my day in the ceramics room at 12:30 and continued my research after lunch looking online for images of cups to see if I wanted to go for a tall style or a cup that has a curve to it. I feel that doing research outside of the ceramics room is helpful when coming to the wheel and actually producing it because you have an image in your mind.

Day Four

I began the day at 9:00AM and started off by using the clay mixer and producing more slabs of clay ready for the class and myself to use because we were running low. I did two bags of this putting three slabs in each. I was pleased with the fact that I was able to perform this procedure by myself so I was able to help Patrice out so that she could carry on with her class. After doing this I began to trim my two bowls that were now dry enough to clean up the bottom to make them flat and smooth. To do this I placed the bowls on the triming wheel and used the tools to trim the edges. I found that the base was a little too dry so I sprayed it with water to make it easier to trim. After taking the bowls of the wheel I smoothed the whole bowl out with a spunge and water and placed them in the firing room to be fired for the first time.
I then took my four other bowls out of the fridge to dry and later be trimmed. After this I decided to start working toward making my four cups. Today I only managed to get one done though but practiced numerous times on the centering and getting in to the rhythm of a different shape. Making cups I feel is much harder than bowls so I know there is going to be a lot of practice needed. I placed this cup in the fridge and began to clear up my area. I finished up at around 12:00PM. Later in the evening during study hall hours I came back to the ceramics room to trim the bottoms of two of my bowls that were dry enough and then placed them also in the firing room. I feel that today I accomplished a lot in learning different techniques and machines.

Day Three

Wednesday: I began getting to work at 8:15 AM today continuing my construction of bowls to reach my requirement. I set up my space and wedged my first piece of clay. Suprisingly my first attempted of centering went well which helped the further procedures of making the rest of the bowl. My aim was to make it into a ceareal bowl shape and the outcome was good. So after taking the bowl of the wheel head and placing it in the fridge I made another bowl. My idea was to make all the bowls at the same time so they would hopefully be the same shape to help me with my sets. My second bowl however didn't turn out exactly the same shape of the first as it wasn't as deep but I was still pleased with what I had made. So once again I took the bowl off the wheel and placed it in the fridge to dry and began another bowl. This third bowl I was pleased with because it came out like the first one. I took the time to make a last bowl which came out just as good as the previous one so I was happy with how I got into the gist of making bowls so they would look alike. This took me to 11:00 AM where I then started researching different styles of color and shape to help me gather ideas for my later projects of plates and cups. This was helpful in giving me more varity and ideas than what I have in my mind. I finished my day up at 11:30 pleased with my days work as I accomplished a lot.

Day Two

Tuesday: I started the day at 9.30 with Patrice showing me how to use a machine to make the clay strips ready for students and myself to wedge. There was many steps I learned today in using this machine and hopefully in the weeks to come I will be able to perform this function on my own to help Patrice. After learning this I began to work on my own projects. Today my target was to work on my bowl making. This requires using a different technique to making vases or mugs as instead of doing a cylinder shape I had to move the clay outwards more to make that bowl like shape. When beginning to make my first bowl I struggled getting it centered and so after realizing I had to work on that I took a few moments to work on my centering. During this process I had Patrice giving me her input to give me pointers on centering. My first bowl was a salad bowl or cereal bowl. I was some what pleased with it as my first attempt in the bowl department and so while I was in the swing of things I continued to make bowls. My second bowl came out almost identical to the first one however being more centered I feel. I took time to center this one working on the motions of centering. Finally my last attempt in making a bowl did not work out well but I was able to cut it in half to see whether the clay distribution was even or not, telling me whether I had centered it or not. This took me to 12.30 where I then went to lunch. Later in the evening I came back to the ceramics room to trim my vases I made the previous day. This meant I went on to the wheel and used the tools to trim the bottom of them to make sure the were even and clean cut to make them presentable. After trimming both of the vases I placed them in the firing room to be fired.

Day One

Monday: This was my first day of my ceramics project. I arrived at the art room at 8:15AM. I began by getting the hang of wedging and throwing the clay again as I
have not done it in a long time. Once I had wedged my first piece of clay I began to make a cylinder shape further making it into a small vase. This first piece was slightly off centered so when making my next one had to be sure it was centered. Patrice informed me of a way to make the rim of the vase look thicker as I seemed to have made it too thin, so this was something else I also had to improve on the next time around. So after throwing my first vase I put it in the fridge to dry and cleaned up my space to begin the next one. This time round my vase had a thicker rim and was more centered and I was happy with the outcome of it. So now I had two vases and decided to move on and try to make a bowl for practice. I struggled for a long time to get it centered because I had used more clay this time around. Eventually I was able to get it centered and work with what I had to make a bowl. However I didn’t like the way it looked so I threw it out but it was all good practice to get used to throwing different things. Lastly, I sat with Patrice to discuss the next few weeks ahead and create a schedule for me to accomplish my work in ending my day at 12:00PM