DING-DONG

ASSEMBLED BELLS

CERAMICS I

clay, glazes, oxides, ceramic watercolors, mixed metals, assorted beads & charms,

waxed linen & jute

I'm really excited to share these delightful clay bells that were made last school  year.

This was the second year to try out this assignment and the kids really enjoyed it,

especially stringing and assembling all the parts.

They did a lovely job glazing them as well.

Let's take a look.

This first bell was the work of junior Angela Mak.

We all loved her double petaled flower 

and how cool her clay charms looking by staining them with oxides.

It really brought out her stamped designs.

This next beauty was made by senior Ashley Scott.

I adored how her glaze came out,

the way the ceramic watercolors mixed with the White glaze.

I believe that was an experiment on her part.

Usually those watercolors are put under our Transparent glaze.

But she used them over the White like we do with the oxides.

But taking another closer look,

she could have also used our Yellow, Turquoise and Blue glazes 

and painted those over top the White glaze. 

Ashley, 

if you see this,

 could you please let me know?

The kids had a choice of what technique to use to build their bells with.

Here we see that senior Catherine Lu used coils and stamped slabs,

and was able to work an "S" curve with her form.

Very elegant!

She also achieved a great contrast with her glazing

by brushing our Black glaze over top select areas to highlight them.

In the other areas she has stained the bisqueware with Red Iron Oxide. 

And here senior Christian Balbido used all 3 building techniques available to him.

The top is pinch, middle coil, and bottom stamped slab.

Brilliant design Christian!

And this was a personal favorite of mine done by junior Dustine Ansiboy.

I really enjoyed the creepy Tim Burton quality she brought into her design.

Check out the hand on top,

then the thin cloth-like looking pinch bell followed by the super fun dangling faces. 

Super expressive!

I also liked the contrast between the glazed bell and the stained oxide hand/faces.

Next we have clay superstar junior Lina Kim.

She made this most precarious jellyfish bell and probably lost at least two of its tentacles.

It's extremely difficult to build such thin clay coils and not have at least 1 or 2 break

 in the handling/firing process.

This was a difficult piece to load into the kiln for firing and glazing as well.

But nothing is too hard for Lina once she sets her mind to something.

She will spend many extra hours during lunches and after school 

to make her designs come true.

It's a miracle this didn't completely lose all those legs.

She also did a beautiful job glazing it.

Senior Mary Esteban gave her bell a southwestern flare with her stamped and pieced surface designs.

Love her combination of colors she brought into piece with her careful glazing.

And junior Michelle Son also did a wonderful job with both design and glazing.

And the way it was assembled feels really balanced to the eye.

We end with another personal favorite done by junior Sara Ryave.

I called Sara a mudwoman several times last year because the clay loves her.

The minute she puts it in her hands she is transported into another world.

She goes deeply into the Right Side of her Brain,

completely shutting off her verbal language,

and creates magic with her mind, her heart and her hands.

I loved watching her work. 

I was so sad she wasn't able to fit me into her schedule this year.

She was the artist who did that amazing coil torso I posted recently.