Tea Pot Set Construction

        My tea pot construction was inspired by Beauty and Beast's animate tea pot and cup. First I mad a slab for the bottom piece and cut it into a flower. Next I started putting coils to make the body. After I was done with that, I blended the piece by cutting it in half. After I blended both the inside and out, I pasted the pieces back together. The next thing I did was make a slab for my spout. I cut it into a big long triangle and then slowly rolled them together. After, I cut a hole in the body and pasted the spout while making it into the shape I wanted. This was the hardest part of my process. Then, I made the handled out of three twisted coils. This however took some days because it needed to be hardened to be pasted on the body so that it does not lose its form. So what I did was made it into the shape I wanted it to be and waited three days to paste it. The last and final thing I created was the cover. I made it out of coils and the top out of a ball of clay. After this I decided to draw straight lines down the top.

    My tea cups were made out of a flower shaped slab on the bottom and coils for the body. After I pasted them all together, I blended them and made them smooth. Next I made the handles out of two braided coils. For this process I did not have to wait long because it was not that big of a piece to paste on to.

        I decided to glaze my teacup set with yellow, magenta, and basic white. For the teacup, I did the spilling method for the inside. I used yellow and shook it while covering the spout and opening. Next I used a brush to glaze the outside. I used magenta on the cover, one twist of the handle, and the bottom of the piece. Of course I waxed the bottom before I started to glaze. Then I used basic white for the ball on the lid and one twist one the handle. For the cups, I just used a brush to glaze it. First I waxed the bottom then colored the body yellow and one twist on the handle. Next I used magenta on the bottom and one twist one the handle. I love this piece because it looks like something they would used in a fairytale. It looks antique yet modern because of the colors I glazed it with.

Second Slab Construction

       My second slab construction had an organic inspired look. First I created the slab and then used a screen to make the lines on the piece. After, I used material flowers to create the design by simply stamping them and then tracing them with a needle tool. After I slowly connected the piece, I created coils to put on the bottom and the top.

       Unfortunately I do not have a picture of the greenware. However, I glazed this piece using maroon for the coils, milky brown for the base, and basic white for the flowers. I used the spilling method for the inside using milky brown. On the outside I just used a brush. This piece does not look like the colors I glazed them with because they were fired at a high temperature for more time than was recommended.

Slab Construction

To create my slab piece, I created a thick piece of clay so that when I used the slab machine it made a slab that would be at least ten inches high. Next, I used a lot of material to make my decorations, but I decided to use leaves. I picked plumeria leaves in its large, medium, and small sizes. However, I did not use the slab machine to stamp them unto my slab. I actually put the pot together first because I was still unsure of what to do. First I cut the bottom to make so that when I stood the piece up it would not fall. Next I slowly wrapped the piece around to construct tall round piece. Then I decided that I did not want to cut the piece, I wanted the wrap it unto each other instead. So I incised both side of where I wanted to wrap them together, then I put a lot of slip on both sides. After, I just slowly squeeze them together so it would stay. Then I started to stamp the leaves where I wanted them. After that, I smoothed the top, bottom, and the wrapped area to make it look smooth. Finally I constructed the bottom piece with the slab machine and placed it inside my pot.

         After my slab construction was fired, I glazed it with a sandy white color for the base and chrome green for the leaves. I used a brush to glaze the whole piece and I only used one coat of glaze. This is because I wanted it to have more of an organic look not being to shiny. 

Coil Construction

                My first coil construction was made to symbolize a mother butterfly and tiny butterflies always staying by her side. The first thing I did was construct the bottom piece with a slab. I drew out the shape I wanted to construct, and then I cut it out with the metal tool. After that, I made coils by hand and kept putting them on top of each other using slip. As I went higher, the coils got smaller. This is because I wanted the top to be smaller than the base. When I was happy with the height, I started to blend the inside and out with the circular edge of the wooden tool. Then I decided that I wanted to make
tiny butterflies. First I made a slab using the slab machine then I cut out variations of butterfly sizes. When I was done with how much butterflies I wanted, I cut each butterfly in the middle to make it have a 3-D effect. Then I started pasting them on my coil construction using slip on the surface and on the butterfly pieces. I did this with all the butterflies, then I was done. All I had to do was correct any bumps
on my final piece.

This is my favorite piece out of everything I created. The way I glazed this piece was using brushes. For the base of the piece I used one coat of blue green. For the butterflies I used a combination of yellow, peach, misty blue, and maroon. It came out perfect. And ofcourse I waxed the bottom.

Double Pinch Pot

        After learning how to construct a pinch pot, we later learned how to put two pieces together. When I finished making both pinch pots alike, I put them together by brushing on slip with a toothbrush on both tops of the pots then I placed them together by squeezing each tip so that it is equally aligned. Next, I used a wooden tool to blend the outside so that the pieces will go together. After I was done with that, I used my fingers along with water to make the pinch pots tips vanish so that it will look like one piece. To blend the insides, I opened the top piece from its foot with a metal tool and used my hands to open it wide enough so that I could blend the insides. To decorate the piece I constructed tiny coils and place them on the piece by putting slip on both the pot and the coils. I made the coils on the piece to symbolize vines and flowers. Some of the flowers look like leaves because it was a little tricky to make them big enough. When I was finished I made the surfaces smooth.





The technique I used to glaze this piece was the dipping and pouring. First I waxed the foot of the piece. Then I used basic white to pour inside then I shook it and spilled the leftovers back in the container. Next I dip the whole piece in the glaze then immediately wiped off the parts where I wanted to glaze it a different color. For the flowers I used magenta and the vines I used satin green. I glazed these using a brush.  

My First Pinchpot

In my AR 216 Ceramics class, I constructed my first pinch
pot. It was a little
tricky at the start of my construction because I started all over and I did not know what I
wanted out of my pot. Then I kept working and once I learned the technique to bring
together clay that I pinched too far out, I decided I wanted to make my pot symbolize the
Marianas while composing the figure of the round shape used by the Chamorro's, the
waves of the oceans that surround it, the stand to symbolize the coconut trees, and the
circles to symbolize small islands around the CNMI. I used marbles to stamp little holes
and sprigging to create the waves for my finished top.

 After my pinch-pot was fired, I glazed it with a glossy black and basic white color. First I waxed that bottom to prevent the paint from sticking to the kiln when it is fired. Next, I started to glaze the overall color, which is glossy black, using strictly brushes because I wanted an even coat. I put about two coats of black and one coat of basic white in the dots. I love the outcome!