Alex's Senior Project

Tuesday is the final day of SP. Today I glazed almost all of my remaining bisque wear pieces. I still need to glaze my vase; sadly the last two vases I made broke during their first firing. Looking back I don't think I attached them well enough. I am really glad about how the colors will come out through other than the vases breaking I never got really unlucky with my pieces breaking. I love the white I glazed three of my pieces and the color it will come out. I can't wait to see what the sky blue pre-glaze vase will come out as. This was a blast making ceramics thanks so much KATE FOR BEING THE BEST MENTOR! Hours Done Today: 4 Total hours Done: 55

     In the second week of the Senior Project I performed much better I felt than in the last. I started creating early making two new vases. Then transitioning I created three bowls and three other vases this week. For the large vases, I did not add anything extra as I did not see the need.  As the week got to Wednesday I stopped making pieces so I would have enough time to finish everything. I started trimming much much more. I trimmed the bottoms of the vases, but looking back I may not have attached them well enough. Hopefully, this doesn't become an issue.  Tuesday is when I started creating my website which will be ready either Wednesday at the earliest or Thursday which is more likely as I need more time to glaze. Here I started talking about how I created each piece and my inspiration. I use lots of photos to showcase my pieces. I still need the photos of my finished pieces as I do not have enough photos of my finished pieces to really have a website to ...

Monday, today I glazed. I was able to glaze only two pieces as the rest are still being fired, but they will be ready for express fest Wednesday. Tomorrow I will glaze the second batch of pieces and Thursday I will glaze my vase; vase singular as the other two vases broke. Luckily not the first one though which is the best. I glazed my bowl with scratch marks a clear glaze, the pinch pot I glazed a deep brown and my tile I used a rhustic rusty glaze on. Tomrrow all my mini vases will be glazeable and my bowls which I hope to make into whites, oranges, and blues. My website will be published Wednesday or Thursday whenever I fully finish glazing my pieces and I can get all the finished products on it, than I'll publish it. This senior project was a blast and I can't believe only one day is left of it.  Hours Done Today: 4 Total Hours Done: 51

Friday was a wild day. I got up very early as I had to catch a bus at 9:35 and then a plane at 2:10 to get to D.C. at around 4:10 for my Sister's graduation events. During the time I was traveling I worked on my artist statement and website and I'm proud to say the artist statement will be published Monday at the earliest and Tuesday at the latest. I won't publish my website till I finish glazing all my creations as I want to show what the finished products look like. My website will focus on each piece and the pictures I have of them. I'll be taking quite a few photos these next few days as I want to flush my website out with tons of photos of what they look like before glazing and after glazing. In my artist statement, I talk about the first coil-built vase I made during SP and where I got my inspiration from. I also showcase photos that are also in the website in my statement.   Hous Done Today: 6 Total Hours Done: 47

 Thursday, I did a very similar routine as I did yesterday. I worked in the studio for about an two hours. During which I trimmed may vases more but also started pre-glazing them. Pre-glaze, is basically paint that can be put on clay pieces before they are bisque wear. This will add contrast to the glaze you pick to fire again after bisque wear. My largest mold-built vase that had the mountain range I colored I believe black than the sun I colored orange as I did not like the red/orange mix. Than finally I painted the clouds blue to add contrast though looking back I wish I painted the clay surrounding the clouds and sun blue to create a sky like image. Friday I’ll be leaving for my sisters graduation but i will be working nonstop during the travel to get the necessary hours so I don’t need to be in the studio more than 3 hours either Monday or Tuesday.  Total Hours Today: 3:30 Total Hours Done: 41

Wednesday, the 18th, I trimmed my work for around an hour and forty five minutes. What I trimmed was the three bowls I had made Saturday/Sunday. I than also continued to carve more into my mold-built vases I made. The largest of the three I created a mountain range that circles the vase I than added a sun and clouds. I than went to get lunch and than returned to my room to continue my websites’ creation. I have started writing about each piece individually on my site and the inspiration I had for it to come out the way it did. I worked on my site for another hour and 30 than I returned back to the studio. Back at the studio I choose pieces that I wanted to be bisque wear so I could glaze them. Hours Done Today: 3:30 Total Hours Done: 37:30

 Wednesday, I started finishing up my pieces to get them ready for the kiln and then glaze and fire them again. I have started working on an artist statement and a google site. For my artist statement, I wish to express my thoughts when creating my first vase and the design I finally decided on. I have pictures that I took along the creation process that I will use to share in my artist statement. I will be making a google site that I'll use to display the artwork I created; talking about displaying I will also display my work at Express Fest. During the hour and thirty I worked in the studio I carved into some of my pieces, smoothed some pieces, and started thinking of glazes I would use. I decided that my first vase will be a deep blue. For the other vase, I hope to make a deep black color with blue as well. Total Hours Today: 4 Total Hours Done: 34

 Monday, I created another vase. This one much smaller compared to my first two almost half the size. I made the top to sprout out like a flower as it adds to the piece. I started to carve out one of my bowls to prepare it for glazing. I started smoothing out all of my pieces with a smooth slab tool. I have also started decorating my straight vases. I am using the kiln for a majority of my pieces now so I can start glazing. Tomorrow I will help kate out with the art show a bit. Hours Done Today: 5 Total Hours Done: 30

I spent the majority of today working on another vase. This one is quite similar in design to my first base. I don’t quite like the similarities, but I plan on carving into it. K hope to create a really cool design where I put pre glaze into the design I create again like I did with the bowl. Other than the vase I carved a bit. I carved into two of the three vases I made one of which I am not found of my creation. The other I think I can continue carving to make quite cool. Tomorrow I hope to create more. Hours Done Today: 5 Total Hours Done: 25

Having now completed my first week of Senior Project I'd like to take some time to reflect. Looking back the week didn't start off great as I was under the weather Monday which led to me being unable to get the number of hours I wanted to that day. This really messed me up planning my time out for the rest of the week which is something I will do better this coming week. Other than my inability to get consistent hours in a manner I enjoyed I am proud of the work I am making.  This week I have finished a bowl, a very large vase, three smaller vases, newly made three bowls on the wheel, and a cup I plan as creating as a decorative piece. I am most proud of my vase as it has been the project I have spent the most time creating, but I hope to create more challenging and longer pieces this coming week. I want to keep trying to create things that I like even if they are difficult as I can see my experience increasing with each passing day.  This coming week I hope to create another ...

Saturday, I sat down and created five to six pieces. I made three pieces on the wheel out of around five pieces of clay. I still need to improve my centering, stretching, and bowl-making abilities on the wheel as the other two pieces of clay ended up in failure. The three other pieces came out well enough, but I was most pleased with my work on something else. I was most pleased with how the two vases I made came out as it was the first time I had done it alone and I thought both came out quite well. They are a bit off-centered but I hope to fix that with time. I then continued trimming and carving my cup for a decent time as I wanted to try and bring more out of the edits I made. I hope to glaze Monday as I was unable to get to glazing today.  Hours Done Today: 4 Total Hours Done: 20

Today I successfully created another vase. This time using a vase as the mold to create a circular vase that goes designer and doesn’t strut out. I plan to carve into the base a little and add designs. I also started carving into a cup I made on the wheel. With this piece I just started making random designs after attempting; to make waves after cutting deeply into some parts of the clay. I hope to continue working tomorrow. I will be glazing my bowl hopefully tomorrow. Hour Done Today: 3 Total Hours Done: 16

Today, Thursday, I worked on my vase. I finally finished my vase today and here's a bit about the finishing touches I performed. I used a tool to smooth out the side of the vase for the final time. Afterward, I used the cheese grater tool to shred a bit more clay off the bottom rims of the vase, I then smoothed out the rims afterward, I attempted and failed at making a vase another way with a somewhat similar method to the bowl I have created. Tomorrow I hope to successfully create a vase with this new method, Looking forward to tomorrow I plan on creating quite a few sculptures aside from the different vase methods; some wheel-based creations but mostly handbuilt.  Hours Done Today: 2  Total Hours Done: 13

Wednesday was a quiet day working on my vase and bowl. I trimmed the edge of my bowl to create an even surface for more practical usage after firing. Then I smoothed out the sides to provide the cuts within the sides to be more impactful when seen as a finished product. It'll be ready to be glazed in a couple days and I plan on picking a color that'll have contrast, but in a way that brings out the cuts and black pre-glaze. I worked on my vase by using a cheese grater as a tool to smoothen out the bumps along with my vase that came about from inexperience. I then followed that up by using a tool that smooths out clay to get rid of the markets that came from the grater. I then added two designs that I liked enough to leave on my vase. I also added quite a few designs I later erased because I didn't like how they turned out.  Hours Done Today: 3 Total Hours Done: 11

 Today I worked a lot on my vase; I finishing coiling around 11, I started working at 8:30. Than at 11:40 I took a break for lunch. In the 40 minutes I continued to work on my bowl sculpting it as I had prior throughout the first couple of hours working in the studio leaving it in the sun to dry and harden. I than created designs and added a pre glaze that will add contrast. I created a staff like design for the vase where the centered shaft has two snakelike coils wrapped around the main vase. Tomorrow I will finish designing the vase and than let it dry to put it in the kiln m. Hours done today: 6 Total Hours done: 8

Hi All, I'm Alex Nunn, and for the next two and half weeks I'll be posting a daily blog and weekly blog posts about my Senior Project, Ceramics. On the first day I had already started a vase project as I had taken ceramics as a class in the spring to prep for my project. I continued my vase making the coils enclose around the top more. I think I'll add a design after I have finished the coils and trimmed the edges. I started making a bowl as well today where I flattened clay out first than place it around a regular metal cooking bowl with plastic in between the clay and bowl to prevent the clay from sticking. I hope to create designs on the outside of this one too. I also created a wheel-based cup which I think either I will keep as a mug or make into a cup with a handle. Tomorrow I plan on finishing my vase and adding the finishing touches to my bowl as well.  Hour Logged Today: 3 Total Hours Logged: 3