Ceramics Projects

Okay, so I know it's been like 20 years since I've written and you all think I'm a huge slacker and not good for a single promise, but it's not my fault. Well, maybe it is a little. I needed to get some pics from my roommate before I could show you all the joy that is my ceramics projects. And who wants to move on to this term's news before finishing off last term? That's what I thought. Anyway, you can know bask in my new awe-inspiring talents. (PS: I'm definitely going to take up ceramics as a hobby, especially the wheel because I need a lot of practice on it.)

First project: The Game Cube

This is a view of all four sides. The top comes off and the inside is all black and therefore too boring to show (plus it doesn't look that great. Luckily black is very forgiving). The bottom does still look like a die and the whole thing sits on the six dots. I was planning on putting card decks or pieces of games that always get lost like dice or timers so when you need one you can just open up the lid and get one. By the way, I should be a hand model. Wow! Anyway. . .

2- Tribal Mask


We needed to have tribal reference in this project, so I looked up a lot of pictures online to see what I liked. This is a combination of two different African mask designs. But even though I took liberally from their ideas, all it basically gave me was the basic shape, the nose and forehead, and the mouth. The rest I came up with using my knowledge from my African-American lit class and my imagination.

I was really happy about the snakes. I didn't think I'd be able to make them look like snakes, and I know the picture isn't the best to view, but they look super cool. Snakes are very significant in African religions. The colors also have significance, but I don't want to sound like a pseudo-intellectual explaining it all right here, so just admire and know that there is a reason for the shapes and colors.

I was a lot happier with this project than I thought I would be. I think I'll hang it on the wall of my future library by my ethnic literature section.

3- The llama box

My favorite animal is the llama, so when we had to have an animal reference for our boxes, the choice was obvious. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to shape the head the way I would have liked, so it looks less realistic than I wanted. But I am planning on attaching fake eyelashes to it to make it even cuter.

Piece of trivia about this piece: the glaze is called Bleeding Armadillo as in the movie Steel Magnolias.





4- The bowls


The glaze on these is just horrible. They were supposed to be lavender. Luckily the pictures are forgiving. And they are very small and mostly off center. Oh well, it took forever to get these substandard peices, so I didn't have time to be a perfectionist. I was just happy to get anything I could use off the wheel. It's a lot harder than it looks on the movie Ghost.

I use the two smaller ones for condiments. They work great for dipping, not too big. They're great for glazing/marinating too. The top one has a crack in it, so it holds my rings and stuff on my desk.

5- The yarn basket

It took forever to make this look like a basket. Seriously, like many hours figuring out how the weaved pattern could work on clay. I didn't make it shiny so that it would look even more basket-like. But I'm very happy with it. The purpose of this basket is to store my projects and let me work on them without the cats attacking the yarn ball. The places where the basket makes points I can string yarn through and it will unravel as I pull it to make crocheting easier. It has a lid so no one has to see the projects and for cat purposes. The lid broke twice in the kiln so I had to glue it back together and it's pretty sad. And the glazes turned out horribly, so I'll just paint over those.

But there's a secret compartment in the yarn so I can put my hooks and needles and scissors and not lose them. Plus I'll be able to get to them without taking the lid off. Pretty nifty design, huh? Yeah . . . That was all me. I like it.


Well, ceramics was lots of fun, and like I say, I'm going to keep it up as a hobby. Very stress relieving.