There is a proverb that states: Practice is the best master. As this has been my first semester as an advance student, my main focus has been practicing my techniques in order to hone my skills and abilities as a ceramicist. Because my technique and throwing abilities are still far from perfect, I have been experimenting with glaze because it has the ability to transform and enhance my otherwise flawed projects. My theme for this semester is how stain and glaze are able to highlight certain features on a project.

            A majority of the projects I have made this semester demonstrate this theme. I made a small bowl with a round body that is glazed with clear on the outside and cobalt on the inside and on the lip. There are three-dimensional flowers molded to the outside of the project in clusters. The petals of the flowers have texture and the cracks on the petals are also glazed in cobalt blue. I also have a wheel-altered vase. The project is narrow at the base, widens out as it gets taller, and is chocked at the top of the project. The lip is dramatically flared and it has been altered so that it is in the shape of a wave. The entire project is glazed in clear and the top third is glazed in shadow green that drips down the sides of the project. Finally, I made a set of three consisting of three bowls. The first bowl is small, approximately three inches in width and heights, and has a round body. The entire project is glazed in clear and the lip is stained in blue. There are flowers stained on in a uniform patter on the body of the bowl. The flowers each have six narrow, pointy petals and they do not meet at the center of the flower. My second bowl is approximately four inches in width and height and it also has a round body. There are two small handles placed on opposite sides of the body. The entire project is glazed in clear and the lip is glazed in blue. There are flowers stained in clusters on the body of the project. The flowers are fatter than the projects on the first project and also have pointy petals. However, the petals connect in the center and some of the clusters have leaves. Finally, the third project in the set of three is a lidded bowl, approximately five inches in height and width. Just like the others, the body of this project is very round and the entire project is glazed in clear. The lid has a simple round knob. There are also blue flowers stained on the body of this project; however, these flowers are grouped in clusters, have five petals and are very round. Each cluster has some leaves.

            Each of these projects were made on the wheel in one class period, which is approximately 45 minutes. I would center my clay, pull out, and carefully pull up. I used the blue rib tool on many of my projects to make the bodies round and wide. I used the stick tool to make the base of the projects narrower so that the wideness of the belly was more obvious. After my wheel-altered project was made, I used my fingers to create the wavy appearance of the lip. It took about a week to make my hand and wheel project because the creation of the flowers was time consuming. After I string-tooled them, they sat overnight and then I footed them the next day. While I was footing the second project in the set of three I made the handles. The lid for the lidded bowl was also made the next day. After they were footed, I let them dry in my locker for two to three days or until they were bone dry. Then they were placed in the bisque kiln for two days. After they came out of the kiln I would rinse them with water and then place them in the oven to heat up. After they came out of the oven they were ready to glaze. My set of three first needed to be stained before they could be glazed. The staining process for these three projects took about a week and a half. After they were stained, I would glaze the entire project in clear. My wheel-altered vase was first glazed completely in clear, then I dipped the upper third of the project in shadow green. I turned the project right side up to allow the green to drip down the sides of the vase. For my hand and wheel project I first glazed the inside of the project and the flowers in cobalt. Once the glaze dried, I used a sponge to remove the glaze from the surface of the flowers so the blue only remained in the cracks of the texture. Then I glazed the outside of the project in clear.

            Each of these aforementioned projects reflects my theme of glazing techniques because the glaze is used in such a way that it highlights certain features of the projects. The shadow green on the wheel-altered project emphasizes the wavy lip of the project because of the stark contrast between the green on the lip and the clear on the rest of the project. Also, the dripping glaze creates movement. The glaze on the hand and wheel project highlights the texture of the flowers that would otherwise be difficult to see. The blue on the flowers is tied in with the blue on the lip and the inside of the project. The glaze on the set of three acts as a unifying element. Each of the projects has blue flowers stained on them, yet each project has varying elements that make each of them unique. The flowers begin pointy and small on the first project and become fatter and rounder on the largest project. The middle project has flowers that look like they are a combination of the small flowers and the larger flowers. Through the glaze that I applied to the projects I enhanced certain unique features of each of the projects.

            Glaze can be utilized to highlight aspects of otherwise simple forms. Hopefully with more time and practice, my skills as a ceramicist will improve with regards to my technique, form, and glazing. As I am just beginning on my ceramic endeavors, I hope and wish to improve both as a ceramicist and artistically in general.

Intro: Talk about either how practice in an art form is necessary for improvement or about how it is needed to hone a skill. All I have done this semester is practice and attempt to perfect my technique and form, so I should probably talk about that. Thesis: The way I have glazed my projects this year has enhanced certain aspects of the projects.
    1. What my projects are:
        *Hand and wheel bowl with flowers on the outside, wheel altered vase with shadow green glaze, and set of         three which is a small bowl, lidded bowl, and bowl with handles.
    2. How I made them:
        *Each of these projects were made on the wheel in approximately one day. Some elements of projects had
        to be made after the project was footed. Each of the projects sat overnight and then were footed the next
        day. Waited about two to three days until they were bone dry and then put into bisque for two days. After
        that, they were rinsed off with water and either left to dry for a day or put into oven and then glazed in the
        same day. A majority of the projects took more than one day to glaze because the staining process was time
        consuming.
3. Ties into theme:
    *The glazes on each of these projects enhances certain features that I was trying to highlight or makes a
       simple form more interesting. Hand and wheel project shows the texture of the flowers and ties in the color
       on the inside of the project. Wheel altered project highlights the lip of the project and creates the illusion of
        movement. Set of three all have simple forms and are tied together by the glazes that they have.

Conclusion: Worked on my glazing because my technique still isn't really up to par. It takes years of practice to improve this skill. Hopefully I will be able to grow and develop as a ceramicist and artistically.

    There is a proverb that states, "Practice is the best master." Over the course of the semester that I have been in ceramics this year, the main goal I have been focusing on is practice. Practice is necessary in order to improve a skill or hone an ability. As this is only my second semester in ceramics, I believe that many hours of trial and error are what is best for me to improve my abilities as a ceramicist. One specific element that I have been practicing and experimenting with this semester is glaze; how it has the ability to transform and enhance projects because my ability to make perfect projects is still faltering. Many of the pieces I created this year have the unifying theme of glaze techniques.
    To begin, I have many projects that utilize glaze to enhance their form or to distract from mistakes. I made a small bowl glazed with clear on the outside and cobalt on the inside. On the outside of the project there are three dimensional textured flowers with cobalt glaze in the lines of the texture. I also have made a wheel-altered vase that has a wide belly and a narrow neck. At the lip of the project, the lip was molded to create a wavy appearance. the lip is glazed in shadow green that drips down the side of the project. I have a vase that is glazed in clear that has waves indented into the belly. the indents are glazed in cobalt. Finally, I have a small cylinder glazed in clear with math symbols stained onto the belly. All of my projects are relatively small and tend to have uneven sides.
    All of these projects were created using the wheel and some were also enhanced with handmade elements. I made each of the projects on the wheel during one class period. I would leave them uncovered overnight and the next day they would typically be dry enough to foot. After footing, I let them dry in my locker uncovered for a few days until they were bone dry. Then I put them in the bisque for two days, glazed the projects, and then finally placed them in the glaze kiln for one day. The glazing process for many of the pieces took more than one day. This is because the glaze or stain would have to fully dry before I could continue to glaze with the next layer of glaze. The bowl with the three dimensional flowers took longer because the process of making flowers was time consuming and a delicate process. I initially glazed the flowers entirely in cobalt and then wiped them off with a sponge so the color only remained in the cracks.
    These projects demonstrate a unifying theme of glaze techniques because they all use glaze in a different way. The bowl with flowers shows how glaze can be used to highlight texture and create juxtaposition. Because the cobalt is only in the cracks of the flowers, the texture is made more apparent. The inside is also glazed in cobalt which is a nice contrasting color to the clear outside. The vase with the waves also demonstrates how texture can be highlighted. Finally, the vase with the shadow green highlights the main feature of the vase: the lip. Because it is glazed in the shadow green it stands out compared to the rest of the body that was glazed in clear. Also, the dripping appearance of the glaze creates the illusion of movement and motion. I have learned a lot during this semester of ceramics. My ability to make larger and more quality projects has improved greatly. I wish I were able to take more ceramics to further my skill. Hopefully my abilities as a ceramicist and as a creative individual will continue to develop throughout my life.
   

I think my theme for this semester will be the use of glaze and stains to enhance a project. Many of the pieces I made this semester incorporate staining such as flowers and leaves. I also used glaze to accentuate features of projects to make them more interesting.