WRAP IT UP!

PORCELAIN SLAB WRAPS

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, oxides

I apologize for going a bit out of sequence with assignments.

This summer I'm kind of all over the place with this blog.

This was the very first assignment for my Intermediate clay kids last year.

It was their first time to work in Porcelain,

and their second time to build with slab wrap construction.

But they didn't thump and drag this time, 

they used a roller to thin out their slabs.

We wanted them almost paper thin because these are tiny and delicate in person.

I also had them use decorative paper scissors to cut the clay with 

along all the seams.

Let's take a look.

Once again,

I cannot find the paperwork that tells me who made which piece.

I apologize and hopefully one of my students will chime in and set me straight.

And they did!

Thank you Chloe & Julia  xoxoxox

We have junior Julia Ruiz and senior Sarah Oh.

My guesses on these 3 were right on.

The back pieces are senior Ylia Madayag and junior Chloe Chang.

With junior Eugene Ho who created the tiny cutie in the front.

In fact, 

I loved Eugene's piece so much that I purchased it at Open House.

Here it is on the left on top of my bedroom dresser at the cabin.

I use it to hold my jewelry.

Told you I loved it Eugene!!

Complimentary colors with a very fluid form and great surface design.

It's got it all!

A LITTLE EXTRA CREDIT NEVER HURTS

PORCELAIN SLAB WRAPS

CERAMICS II

porcelain clay, ceramic watercolors & glaze

Because these were extra credit pieces,

 they weren't glazed at the same time as the other wraps.

So I'm playing a little catch up here.

Even though these pieces look large on the screen,

they are really tiny,

maybe 2 1/2 - 3 inches tall by 1 1/2 inches wide at the base.

And because they were extra pieces,

the kids didn't follow all the regular rubric requirements.

But I still felt like they were important enough to share them.

It's been awhile but I believe the top one was the work of senior Sitara Puliyanda,

and I actually remember the bottom one was done by senior Eryn Burnett.

Sitara really got into working with the ceramic watercolors this year, 

and Eyrn really enjoyed overlapping the glazes.

Above she overlaps black with our tan glaze.

LET'S WRAP IT UP

PORCELAIN SLAB WRAPS

CERAMICS II

porcelain clay, glazes & oxides

This is the first assignment of the year for my second year clay students.

And it's also their first time to work with porcelain clay.

The assignment is used as a review for slab construction,

and surface design.

And the kids ended up loving the porcelain.

Sadly,

it's twice as expensive as the regular clay.

Only two pieces were required but senior Celeste Zambrano made three.

Notice how fluid each piece is.

They had some choices about how to finish them off.

I wanted glaze on the inside of all.

I also wanted oxide staining on the outside to highlight all the surface stamping.

Some then chose to glaze over the oxides, 

some didn't.

These next two cuties belong to senior Klyne Madayag.

She has used transparent glaze on both the inside and out with cobalt oxide staining.

This beauty was made by senior Sandhya Raghvan.

Sorry it's a bit blurry Sandhya.

I really like how our Black glaze contrasts with the Rutile oxide.

This gorgeous piece was done by senior Efrain Quintero.

Again,

we see how the Black compliments the Red Iron Oxide.

Love , love, love how senior Sitara Puliyanda 

used multiple oxides on the piece on the left.

As did senior Eryn Burnett on her middle piece above.

Eryn also experimented with a box shape along with her cylinders

 for extra credit.

These are all so sweet.

A great start for the new school year!

A COUPLE MORE

PORCELAIN SLAB WRAPS

CERAMICS II

clay, glaze, oxides

If you remember this post from a couple of months back,

I'd shown off these delicate porcelain wraps.

Well two more recently came out of the glaze firing and I wanted to show them off.

Senior Erin Hsaio has rolled a lovely pattern over top her clay

 then let the piece break and crack as she folded it over for a super cool look.

And senior Cindy Ryoo has let her clay buckle over itself as she put it together.

You can see these pieces as well as so much more

 at our Open House show that is coming up in April.

More details to come.

Light and Airy

PORCELAIN SLAB WRAPS

CERAMICS II

porcelain, glaze & oxides

This is one of the first assignments of the school year for my 2nd year clay students.

It's a slab review as well as an introduction to porcelain.

Thinness is stressed,

along with decorative edges,

 and lots of embossed surface design.

Probably one of the most beautiful works in clay to ever be built in my classroom in 35 years by senior Ju Eun Lee.

So lovely that I had to take two pix in two different lights.

This next one by senior Yasmeen Pardo is also really cool.

She has adorned it with her signature metal pieces along the side edges, 

and look at how nicely the glaze is breaking around her surface design.

And what an interesting shape senior Nicolas Tudor has built on the right.

If you look at it from above it's a tear drop. 

He is using a new wooden rolling tool to emboss the clay's surface.

These next ones were shot on a different day and I wish I'd used another color backdrop.

They are a little hard to see because of the lack of contrast but they are really cool little wraps.

These two tiny cuties above belong to senior Cindy Ryoo along with the one on the right below.

The one below left was made by senior Sameera Baktra.

Great job ladies!

And this last one is another by Cindy.

She made several extras and really enjoyed the assignment.

Let's Eat!

PORCELAIN DINNERWARE SET

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

porcelain clay, glaze, oxides

Laarnie and Reis both expressed an interest in revisiting clay in their 3-d class so I wanted to challenge them since they are both outstanding students with this dinnerware assignment.

And 'm so glad I did because their results were incredible.

This first set belongs to junior Laarnie Barcelon.

The kids were required to make at least 3 pieces.  

Laarnie did a couple more for extra credit.

Her cup was my favorite with all the embossed designs she stamped into it.

And then to show them off she stained with red iron oxide and glazed with transparent over top.  

I also really loved the bottom of her bowl.

I always tell me students that it's human nature to turn things over to see the bottom so you had better make it look good.

She listened  :)

Another close up of one of her cups.

I feel badly that I didn't take a shot of junior Reis Makasa's set.

Don't know what I was thinking. 

But this is his plate.

On this piece he stained with cobalt and chrome carbonates to highlight his stamped areas, then transparent glaze over. 

Loved his mug and how his handle flows with the form. 

He took special pains with the oxides to show off his designs.

Great work you two!

Oops...

PORCELAIN SLAB WRAPS

CERAMICS II

these sweet pieces were accidentally left out from the post on Porcelain Slab Wraps the other day.

Senior Aman Patel created these two lovely pieces then finished them off beautifully with two of our glazes.

Porcelain Slab Wraps - Student Work

CERAMICS II

a review

This was their first assignment of the year, a review of slab building but for the first time, doing it in the more expensive porcelain clay.  So I kept the scale very small.  These pieces may look big here on the blog but in reality, they measure only about 3" by 1 1'2".  And they are lovely!

I believe this first one by senior Aditi Ramesh was an extra credit piece.  I really like how she pushed the walls out which creates movement and a pleasant flow for the eye.  I 

The kids were required to make two pieces for this assignment.  This was one of Aditi's above.  I asked them to show all the seams and that they be decorative for added interest.  Aditi used Pinking Shears to actually cut the edges of the clay with.  Very cool. 

Senior Carol Oh took advantage of a rubber stamp to texture her surface above, as did senior Shamara Mustafa below.  I also really like how she didn't allow her piece to close all the way up.

Most of  the kids stained their pieces with oxides, then applied transparent glaze over top to show off their surface designs.  

This is cool how Tahnee peeled her edges over.  Notice she is using the same stamp as Shamara but how different they look because of the finishing technique.

I'm loving the shaping of this little cutie above by Shamara.  Both she and senior Aman Patel (below) did some overlapping which adds even more interest to the form.

And lastly, Tahnee has created this sweet little vase form with holes so she can hang it on a wall and perhaps put flowers inside.  Notice the contrast she achieved by only staining the main structure but then putting a bit of glaze only on the flower.  Nice look!

Spring in my Garden

Fertillizer does wonders, between the bat guano I spread and all the watering I do, my plants continue to thrive.

What was especially thrilling for me this year was the blooming of my bearded iris bulbs that my son and I bought from the Fullerton Arboretum's annual April garden sale about 3 years ago.  The blooms were ginormous.  This white/yellow bulb had a total of 4 large blooms, each lasting a couple of days.    

What I always love to do is bring the garden indoors.  This year I had a very special handmade student clay pot to house them in courtesy of Eddie Ponce.  

Porcelain Slab Wraps - Student Work

Another review assignment I do at the beginning of the year with my Ceramics II kids is to have them stamp the clay then thump and drag it so that it stretches out and cracks along the edges.  At the same time I am introducing them to working in porcelain, a very high fire white/translucent clay body that's delicate and lovely, but also a bit of a challenge.  These little works only measure about 3 inches tall by about an inch or so wide.  Tiny and very decorative.

The three above as well as one below are the work of senior Eddie Ponce.  One of the many things I love about Eddie is that he produces good work very quickly so that he is always ahead of schedule and able to make a couple more pieces before the assignment ends.  I also like the way he has glazed each piece with a different glaze and/or oxide. 

These next two above belong to senior Rita Labib.  I really like how she has pushed the cylinders beyond their limits and actually broken thru on that one on the left.

This next work by senior Stella Park is so cool.  She has used three of our oxides and stained the clay after bisque firing, then applied a transparent glaze over top for a very unique finish.  

Then below we are back again to Rita. 

Rita produced her color by drawing with oxide pencils onto the bisqueware then putting the transparent glaze over top for a very subtle, soft look.

This last one also belongs to Rita.  Love that she added the legs to create a tiny but elegant piece.