Here’s a teapot I made out of clay. The main hollow part of the teapot is a very large pinch pot. It’s hard to judge by the picture, but this teapot is actually quite large (it’s too big to hold in one hand). I cut a large section out of the pinch pot so I could attach the spout. I was happy with the final look, especially the touch of yellow in the handle, brim, and spout, against the dark blues.
Here is an abstract ceramic sculpture I made. At the mouth of the pot, the light green and dark green (with hints of blue) abstract shapes represent leaves with red spots (often leaves that fall have spikes or spots on them). The spiral on top of the half circle represents sunlight. To give the structure a cohesive look, whenever I used a new color I made sure to apply it to multiple places. Overall, I was satisfied with the finished result.
Here’s a heart sculpture that I created with a slab of clay! I carved the swirling pattern into the surface to create a mesmerizing effect, and at the tip of each curl I painted a dark blue dot for contrast. I continued with the blue theme by painting light patches of coral blue and baby blue onto the heart. Also because the heart is hollow, I thought it would be interesting to hollow out a heart shape at the place where the heart forms a “v”, and I was satisfied with the effect. To give the whole project a shiny sheen and to feel smooth at the touch, I covered it with three coats clear pearl glaze.
Here’s a hibiscus sculpture I came up with, made out of clay, and glazed. At the bottom is a pinch pot base, and sculpted leaves are curved around the cylinder made from a slab. On top of the cylinder is a sculpted flower with long overhanging pink petals. Crimson balls in groups of three cling to the large pink petals, and yellow “streaks” erupt from the top.
While I was creating this, I was trying to figure out a way to have sophisticated appeal with the flower at the top, and make it seem like light was pouring out. I also hoped to make a long, simple stem with a couple elegant textured leaves. The end result of the sculpture was exciting, especially how the crimson balls on the petals added a touch of potency. In hindsight, I could have made the “cylinder” (the stem) even longer. Other than that, I am very pleased with the result!
I created this sculpture by first making a pinch pot, which is the circular base of the sculpture. Then, I attached coils to give the sculpture height, and on top of that I added an abstract curved piece (that is the part that it dark blue). I created curls out of thick strips of a rolled out piece of clay, and I built as high as I dared. After that, I smoothed everything down so the shape was smooth. Then I added the polka dots along the pinch pot and the smoothed coils, which I thought resembled bubbles, as well as a piece of rectangular clay that curved around the pot (which is in yellow). Because the sculpture was so tall and not perfectly stable, I added a decorative foot (which is the bottom left of the sculpture in aquamarine) . When I was glazing I continued with the bubble idea, and glazed the pinch pot and the coils different contours of blue that grew steadily darker as it grew higher. The curved rectangular piece of clay I glazed yellow, and I glazed the sculpture beneath it yellow as well to create the illusion that the yellow was melting down. This striking yellow against the blue-green depicts sunlight falling through water. The piled curls on top of the pot were glazed dark red where they originate (it’s impossible to see where they start in the picture above, but it is visible in the pictures below), and slowly blend into a light pink. I added sparks of red into the center of the curls higher up to help the colors blend.
Rising Hope Sculpture from different angles:
I have written a poem that I feel closely relates to the inspiration I felt when creating this sculpture:
Figments of thought mingle
as the first rays of light rejoice along the horizon,
Revelation touches the mind
with the brisk break of morning,
When one wonders
“what shall I do today?”,
One could accomplish
anything to their heart’s desire,
Treasures lie in the next blank page
of a leather bound notebook,
Ready for the flowing strokes
of a nib of a pen to unleash its wonders,
Though hidden glories also await
outside the window,
a snap of a branch,
a tremble of a leaf,
Their subtleties conceal the gravity of their being
and what they may inspire,
Unexpected torrents of swirling wind
toss the bitter roots of creation,
Arousing the spirit to adapt and thrive,
And from the bitter cold unseen from indoors
strength blooms,
A home stands
where the warmth and wisdom of many hearts
kindle a crackling fireplace,
By the dying embers one can withdraw
from the unforgiving world
and sigh with contentment,
Beyond the last page of a well loved book
light casters dwell,
though they also lie
in the earlier pages, unnoticed,
Hidden in the deepest crevasses of our being,
tucked away in leaflets of memory,
wonders bring about who we are and who we may be,
For a miracle will never fall into outstretched hands
– it may have been there all along, waiting to unfold in new light –
and thus begin your journey.
Oh, petals light, petals slight,
arch back to kiss the sun,
reach up with scarlet stamens bright,
and never cease till spring is done.
I was playing with a slab of rolled out clay when I realized that I could layer strips on top of the pinch pot I had created. I softened the edges of the clay strips and curved them backwards and forwards to resemble petals. On the petals I used various tools to texture them, making the imprints deep and large near the center, and progressively lighter and less large. After that, I carefully created four stamens. Because the moist clay would not stand upright, I waited for them to dry out so that they wouldn’t droop over the flower. When clay is dry (it’s called greenware), it’s extremely brittle. One of the stamens broke, but the remaining three didn’t and were fired on the sculpture. I spent a long time glazing this flower sculpture, because the petals created many nooks and crannies that were hard to reach with a brush. I put on six layers of yellow glaze in the center to make it shine with color, and made the yellow slowly blend into the pink of the ends of the petals. I added red and green highlights to each petal in three coats. I also glazed the pinch pot base in two different shades of green.
Below is the Flower Sculpture from different angles.
The Origami Journals 