This semester, I took the course ceramic hand-building to try something different. In this course, we learn how to work with clay and what to produce with it. Many of these products are pots including pinch pots, coil pots and slab pots. To make these pots, we had to learn the basics of clay and how to score and join it properly. We also had to use many of our capabilities in this elective to make sure we were as efficient as possible.

Introduction

To start of this unit, we were introduced to the process of slab rolling. This was to start off the process of the clay construction. With these slab rolls, we used underglaze to colour our pieces of clay and test out which ones we enjoyed the most. After we fired these, we covered half of each slab with a gloss glaze to see the difference between the normal Bisk fired and gloss glazed fired.

Prototypes of pots

Before the start of my project, we were helped to design prototypes of the 2 different pot types used to produce the pots. These 2 pot designs included pinch pots and coil pots, both being totally different techniques used in ceramic hand-building. Pinch pots are started off as a big ball of clay but are pinched on the inside to achieve the look of a pot. Coil pots are designed with a base of clay and thick clay strips like spaghetti that are applied to the base and on top of each other. From both of these designs, I had preferred pinch pots to coil pots as I found it easier to work with and I preferred the design.

Project Ideas

To start of our pot project, I researched many ideas to gather inspiration as well as help from our peers. with my ideas gathered, I then jotted down my ideas into my visual diary until I found a final design I was happy with. This included colour, texture, shape and size. I then also used our prototypes of our pinch pots and coil pots to decide what design I was happy with for my pots. In the end, I ended up choosing to design 3 pinch pots for my project.

Capabilities

In ceramic hand-building throughout the course, I had the help of capabilities to help us stay on top of work and enjoy what I was doing. These capabilities included organisation, inquisitiveness, problem-solving, and creativity. These capabilities helped me achieve different things, Organisation helped me use my time efficiently to produce my project and pots as well as keep up to date on my visual diary. Inquisitive and creativity helped me with the thinking process of my pots and the creativity of the designs. These included visual diary and pot designs. Problem-solving helped me with what worked well and what didn’t work well. These included the colour pattern that was used at the start did not go well together, so I changed the designs to make the colours more appealing and suitable. Overall, capabilities have helped me with the process of each aspect in the process of my project.

Finish product

at the end of the project, I was very happy of how my 3 pots and come out. The colours and texture turned out really well and I am very happy with the final production.