Totally blank on for next project ideas until a conversation with Thea today. I first thought about doing a tea pot with tea cups and sugar holder. but i wanted the viewer to be more involved. gave some thought to creating almost a 3d wallpaper and having each viewer either taking a piece down or putting a piece up. depending on when it was viewed the viewers would each get a different take on the piece. I also considered creating something like a castle and cutting it into sections and having some kind of diagram so the viewer would have to put the pieces together to view the whole piece. I also considered creating different vessels from movies and having the viewer guess which movie its from. I would have a photo of the vessel in the movie its from inside the vessel. the viewer would record what they thought it was from. each guess would be recorded under the vessel so that the next viewer could see what other people thought. examples would be the honey pot from whinny the pooh or the lamp from Aladdin.

After talking to Thea, i think i have decided to do a tera cotta wine chiller with goblets. Some kind beverage would be in the wine chiller and the viewer would pour their own goblet. The viewer would be getting the drink out of the chiller, choosing their own goblet, and filling them then drinking from it. The viewer wouldnt be as involved in the creating process but would be very involved with the final product. Plus i would be able to get more throwing practice in which is one of my goals for the semester.

Reference pics are below.

thrown pics

Better late than never.

multiples nearly complete

my vessel chandelier project idea has undergone a slight modification... I couldn't for the life of me manage to throw a vessel talker than a few inches.I am also having to substitute candles for lights instead of a bulb as orignaly planned...so my chandeliers have become more like lanterns. But I'm considering combining a couple to make them a little taller. I plan to assemble all of the slices with a thin copper wire wrapping around them opposed to a rope or type of thick string. Everything is cut and ready for assembly tomorrow. I was in a rush and forgot to take pictures tonight. They will be up tomorrow morning. While cutting my thrown pieces that I had worked so hard on, I had thoughts on other ways I might like to do in the future. I would like to cut out patterns on future thrown pieces to make them more decorative...I think the shadows cast on walls would be interesting. I enjoy patterns. I've also been thinking on ways to incorporate senses into my work...particularly the since of smell. I will keep these things in mind...as well as the previous project. I liked the swinging motion being present...might try to think of a way to incorporate it.

Multiples

I'm considering throwing some vessels then slicing them like bread...waiting for them to become leather hard then threading them onto a fishing wire or letting them hang off the wall from a stick or something....kind of like the baby ring toy that stacks from biggest to smallest.

wheel progress

My plan for the multiples project, is to make "lanterns".
I've been putting together some vessels at home by coil building. I have another going thats slab built.I have also been practicing throwing on the wheel. My hope was to be naturally talented in the throwing area to get a few plain cylinder shapes together fairly quickly so that i would have multiple groups of multiples. Throwing is going slow but i have made progress. Results are as follows.

Vessel #1.....
not too bad. a little wider and not as tall as i want them

  

 Vessel #2...
Way too small but i liked what i ended up with so ill keep it.



Vessel #3...Fell apart while i was taking it off the wheel head. darn bats.

final

Number 1

Orignal

Number 2

Panels with sheer cloth over top.

Number 3

They began to represent something further out in the sky, supernova and other galaxies.

I began with cloth. When we work with ceramics, our tables are covered in cloth to absorb moisture and keep the clay from sticking to the surface as much as possible. I decided on black cloth because slip is a light color and I wanted some contrast. As I started the project it was more just experimenting. As I moved into the second I started thinking about the act of swinging.When you swing it kind of gives the sensation of falling or flying, which to me is a very freeing sensation. While in the process I realized that the act of just swinging a balloon around on a string was kind of freeing as well. In a sense that you didn't really have to think about anything too complicated or stressful. I just let the paint/slip mix fall where it wanted. When we swing we look at the sky, or at least I do. Its kinda unavoidable. Which led me to connecting what I was doing to the cosmos. Very pleased with the results. #3 is my fav.

to swing

Attempt #2 went pretty good if I do say so myself.
I got smaller balloons. Water balloons this time.
I also got a black piece of fabric. For good contrast.
I filled up the balloons this time with a cake decorator thing (really specific I know).
I tied my balloons up, tied a piece of ribbon to it. Then poked a hole in the bottom end of it and let it swing.

 It was much easier with smaller balloons.
I liked the end result a lot better than I thought I would.
Then a thought struck me....It needs color!
So I initially thought food coloring but was afraid the color wouldnt bee as prominant as I wanted it to be.
Then I was like duh! Paint!
So I put paint in the cake decorator then shook it up and filled up my balloon, then tried again.
Awesome idea!


This is with the tan slip color, slip + blue, and slip + red.
The red balloon ended up slipping off of my ribbon and busted. But I like it. It gives it a little extra flair.
I am hoping the paint helps the slip stick to the fabric instead of cracking and flaking off.
I'm going to get a few more pieces of black fabric and make a couple more.

Verbs

A few of the verbs I started with.
to rupture, to poor, to cover, to spin, to pull, to swing, to dangle, to destroy

 I considered pulling pieces or chunks off of bowls or some kind of vessel to create something like this...to pull
I love the look of this. The act of pulling at something that is traditionally smooth and fairly consistent creates this unpredictable type of object that I think is intriguing. I've wanted to try to create my own 

I considered making a carousal out of clay that would look something like this...to spin.
I like that the viewer would have to wind it up and actually have to interact with it for it to spin. My grandma had one when I was little and I loved it. I just recently had a son so I'm constantly thinking of little toys for him.




The project that we settled on in class was the pendulum idea. My original idea was to make a pendulum, like a mini of the one at Louisville Science Center, that "leaked" slip at the end. The idea was that the pendulum would "draw" a kind of spiral over time onto this sheet or cloth and that the clay would stain the cloth and create a "picture". The pendulum would be made out of found objects, nothing that would have to be purchased. I like the idea of using something that has been created and discarded to create something else that would create something else. Verb would be to swing or to create. This could be a demonstration or video with an object.   Discussing it in class I realized I wasn't exactly going to be able to do it the way I had originally envisioned. It transformed more into me drawing with a swinging balloon filled with slip.Which still sounded kinda cool so I gave it a shot. The first problem I ran into was actually getting the slip in the balloon. I ended up having to stuff clay in the balloon then filling it with water from a faucet. The idea was that the clay would dissolve, leaving slip. This part worked well. The balloon was too heavy to hang from a string and busted before I could do much drawing....the sprinkles that came from the hole in the balloon were actually quite nice.....before the balloon busted. I think I will try it again with a shorter string and a smaller balloon.