Chairs of Sculpture 2

Sculpture 2 projects from the spring semester so far... Plaster and Steel Mixed Media. The object of the plaster project was to cast. I really shouldn't call it a plaster project, since we were allowed to use other castable materials like wax instead of plaster. As far as projects go, we really have free range to do whatever we want within a few guidelines that usually involve the material we work in and if it must be a floor or wall piece. Luckily, that's just my style -- I hate rules.

Plaster Casting Project:

Now that I see this posted here, I think that the photo doesn't do the piece justice. This piece needs to be read top to bottom, but I'll mention the basket last. It's all about comfort and privilege, and how so many people are born with these things but take them for granted. The cushions and bunny are a symbol of that comfort. And clearly the funnels are representing all that's wasted running down to the ground and dispersing. I titled this "It's a Shame" after the trite saying you might here people say as they're talking about someone who didn't live up to their potential or wasted their life and their time on something seemingly worthless. The basket is kind of tricky to figure out for the viewer. It's saying, here's your wealth and privilege -- Go collect all of the good things you've been given. But the basket is empty, and all that it may have contained is now a big puddle of nothing on the floor.

Side note: The plaster on the floor was cast on top of plastic sheeting. My prof would have killed me otherwise.


Close up of the bunny. 4 out of 6 limbs had to be plastered back on after they broke off, including both ears. Casting a stuffed animal seemed like a good time at first, but not so fun in the long run. The seat cushions also came out really well. I was forced to cast them as waste molds because the first one refused to pop out. It took a little extra time, but worked out well enough.

Steel Mixed Media Project:

The basis of this chair is temptation. It's fairly simple -- You sit on the cushion, and the peach is dangling right in front of you. You want to reach for it; smell it, taste it, explore it. But what you don't see when you're sitting carefree in the chair is that there is a line of other peaches waiting to take its place. The spine houses these other peaches. This chair would have been so much cooler if i could have somehow rigged a chain or another method of moving the peaches up the spine. Also, I would have liked to have the spine extend further up the sculpture, but the idea was that when you were sitting, you couldn't see the spine or the other peaches at all. In other words, continuing up the spine would have given a peripheral view of the other peaches.

Detail of the spine... The fabric is held in place with carpet tape, and the peaches were hung with your basic yarn. In sculpture 1 I cast peaches out of plaster, but for this I cast them in wax. I needed a much lighter material, but I wanted to utilize the molds that I already had. Wax was a perfect fit. The peaches are hollow, and have a light smell of candle, which were melted down in order to cast.

Detail of the peach attachments. I drilled holes in the steel and strung the peaches through them. The buttons hold everything in place -- They allowed me to tie the peaches in pretty tightly. The bows are merely for effect.

Looking up the spine. Lovely peaches. Some of them were a peachy color, but others were light or dark pink. It was difficult to keep the color of the wax consistent when i was constantly adding new wax in the pot to melt down.



The next sculpture project to come is bass wood carving. I'm finding it extremely difficult to do. I like materials that go soft to hard, not hard and harder. And no, I'm not making a chair for this project.

Love, from Kent, OH.

Spring Semester

I made a whole bunch of cups earlier this semester, but hadn't glaze fired them until last week. When I opened the kiln, my whiteish glaze hadn't melted fully. Bummer right? So I refired a few in our brand new test kiln to cone 7, and got the results I was hoping for! (Luckily... and being sneaky about it as we're not supposed to fire hotter than cone 6) I've been doing a lot of either inlaid underglaze decoration or, as shown here, underglaze decoration on the surface of the piece after the bisque. I do it all free hand... I like the undulating line quality and free spirit each line brings to the overall pattern. It's so much more interesting than if each were perfect and identical to all the rest. Here are some of the best aka the ones I like most.


Okay, they're not cups... but they are kick ass platters I made last semester. They cracked a lot around the sides, and if it hadn't been for one of the grads here, they would have gone in the dumpster a long time ago. I finally finished them off with some underglaze decoration and a clear coat, and presto, beautiful platters. (But still with massive cracks... which you can see on the bottom of the left platter)

This is a darker clay body than I've typically used... one of Kirk's suggestions. I'm not sure it's exactly what I want, but it's fine for now. The whiteish glaze is a lot murkier on the darker body than the lighter, not something I'm keen on.

A little cuppy with a big crown. When I figure out what the symbolism is, I'll let you know. Also just a note; the rest of the cups in this post are with the lighter clay body.

I love this pattern on this shape because it gives it a corset-like feel. I also love the way the glaze pulls the underglaze and red glaze downward. Simply amazing.

This cup went to my glass TA because she's been so awesome helping me learn how to blow glass. I love the way that the dark glaze mimics the underglaze when it flows. It's nearly the same color when it's thin. And again, love the corset-like abilities this pattern has when it's stretched over the form.


Love, from Kent, OH.

EDIT:
Squash is a strong word... He just wanted me to switch things up a bit, which I thought about for awhile. Then I continued to make what I wanted to make. I think he's coming around, as in not fighting me on it for now. I can't NOT make pots. It's what I do, what I feel like i need to do.

As for glass... I'm just learning! And we only just learned how to add color last week. I don't want to be prejudice, but clear glass isn't much to look at most of the time. I'm having fun with it though, and also taking intermediate blowing next semester (if my hockey schedule permits it).