Molds

I thought that the mold process was fun and easy. I was a little anxious that it wouldn't turn out looking right since it was my first time. In the end, my piece turned out looking pretty good so I think that this process was a success. My baby hand looks almost exactly like the mold that I made it out of. 

Vessel Mini Lesson - Pit Fired Piece

I started by cutting out a flat cup shape in the clay. I then took the two ends and stuck them together to make the cup shape. I cut out a circular shape for the bottom. For the shape at the top, I folded the clay over about every half-inch. This gave it a design at the top so that it doesn't just look like a normal boring cup. After it being in the kiln, I prepped it for by wrapping it in aluminum foil and adding salt, paper towels, and even some cheerios. This is a style of work I am drawn to because it was fun to do and exciting to see how it would turn out in the end. I also really liked this project because everyone's piece was unique.

Relief (Mini Pieces)

Paper Relief

I had trouble coming up with an idea for this one, but it ended up looking kind of like an eye. It was my least favorite of the three.

Clay Tile Relief

This one was my favorite of the three. I had already done something like it when I took Art 1, so I had a better idea of what I was going to do. I decided to do a flower/sun type thing. I enjoyed putting the glaze on it which really made it stand out.

Cardboard Relief

I decided to do flowers for this one too. I thought this was a really cool idea, I would have never thought of doing this with cardboard but I really enjoyed it. 

Relief (Main Piece)

For my main relief piece, I decided to use cardboard. I first sketched out the beach with the palm trees and the sun. Then, I transferred it over to the cardboard. I left the bigger palm tree alone and cut the top layer of the smaller palm tree so that it looked like it was in the back ground. For the sky, I cut the top two layers away so that only the last layer was left. I left the sun alone. Then, I just painted everything and decided I was going to paint the sky as a sunset. I found the different layers of this piece to be successful. The cardboard gives it texture. Next time, I would put the sun in the center of the sky so that it looked like a more realistic sunset. I was inspired to make this piece because I knew the texture of the cardboard would make the trunks of the palm trees and the water look cool. 

Inspired Artist

These are delicate, layered paper sculptures of birds by Canadian artist, Calvin Nicholls. He works with paper and has been featured in many magazines like Sommerset Studio Magazine and has won various awards like the Society of Animal Artists Award of Excellence. His personal website is http://www.calvinnicholls.com/. His work inspired me because of the amount of detail each one consists of. Iit draws me in because the birds look incredibly realistic. You can see the hair on each one.