Ceramics part 3

The above photo is the mould i made in half with the clay ready to come out and be shaped and smoothed to the way i want.


As you can see i have done this one before but i thought i'd do another one as it turned out well


These two are it upside down. Well it's two different ones at different stages of drying

I am so pleased with how this (well them) has turned out.


I have really been enjoying making these and i will being more as i hope that i will be able to sell some (trying to work out how much to charge). They haven't been fired yet but i have been able to colour them with a maroon velvet underglaze. The lighter one was had gone off completely (fully dried) and the other one is leatherhard (still damp) so there is a difference in the shade, i don't know if this will change as it drys but i will find out next week. They are now waiting to go into the kiln. Oh yes to get the colour on i painted it on like you would paint anything and it was so easy. You can get the underglaze in alsorts of colours so i can do a whole range of these.

Anyway i still have work to do and i will take photos of these in use which i can't wait for.

Ceramics part 2

So you start with this bucket of slip


And you then need a mould


You poor the slip into the mould and wait for 10 - 20 minutes

Poor off the excess slip and leave it upside down and at an angle for it to flash off. Once it has flashed off it looks like the photo below. Now you just have to wait for it to become leather hard and is then workable. Ii will take more photos as i work on it

This pot is the one that i showed in a previous post. It has now come out of the kiln and is ready to colour

So funny

Now i wasn't going to watch Lets Dance for Comic Relief but i'm so glad that i did. Comedian Robert Webb totally stole the whole thing by doing the what a feeling routine from flash dance. If you didn't see it here it is



Its funny and good at the same time. I know that i'm not the only one who is jealous of his legs.

The other routine that i really enjoyed was Dick & Dom doing The Blues Brothers Shake Your Tail Feather



This is saturday night tv at its best so i'm now looking forward to next weeks show

Another week is over

It's hard to believe that this week was half term as i was in uni just about everyday this week. When i've been in i've been there until the workshop closed and i have enjoyed the time i have spent there. Even thou i have got lots done i still have lots more to do. I would have some photos but i forgot to take my camera.
Today i only manged to get in for a couple of hours today but i did get some work done. I have started to make the plaster cast for my mould so i can do the slip casting next week. Working with clay is so therapeutic and relaxing it makes it more worth while.

Anyway yesterday i went to the new ikea in southampton to do some research and it gave me lots of ideas for my final project. There is so much that i can do and now i am more positive about doing it where as before i wasn't to sure. It has really spurred me on to getting on to degree and having a career not just a job.
Oh what was i saying before i went off on one oh yes ikea. The store was really good seeing as it's only been open about a week. It was really busy and you did feel it as you have to queue for ages at the checkout and the cafe was so busy that i gave up on it. I did buy a couple of things that i needed while i was in there but i spent less than £10 so i was happy. (I have a birthday soon so can i please have money to spend in ikea). I did take a few photos going around the store and i wasn't the only one doing it. So here are a couple that i took



Can you tell i'm into lighting?
Not the best photos but that doesn't matter.

I have one more child free day left before Dom comes home from his grandads where he has been on and off all week. He was oringinaly picked up on sunday afternoon but came home tuesday night as on wednesday my brother and sister-in-law were down and they wanted to take him out for the day. So that is what happened, they took him to the cinema to Hotel for Dogs which he really enjoyed and he now wants a dog. On thursday i took him to southampton with me on the train and met my dad at the station and he dropped me outside ikea and he took Dom off with him so i could get on with some work. So i know that he has had a good week which is the important thing and i'll hear all about on sunday.

Ceramics part 1

This is the first pot that i have made and this was using a technique called slip casting. It's a relatively easy technique to learn and it was good fun. I plan to use this alot. The pot is a candle holder and for my current project it isn't finished yet as it hasn't fully dried so that it can go in to the kiln. When it comes out of the kiln i'm going to see about maybe enameling the inside as i think that that would be a good effect. I'll show you when its done.

Ok i know what you are going to say about the next photos that it just looks like a lump of clay and it does but it's shaped. I'm going to use this as a mould for the slip but as with all ceramics it takes time.



It is meant to kind of look like a stone (but i don't think it will look like a stone when its done and has holes in it to let the light out). I just can't wait to see the finished piece but that won't be until next week at the earliest.

Sandblasting

Here are just a couple of photos of what i have been doing with the sandblasting.

I had best get back to it as the workshop is open again now

blogthings as its been a while

What Beth Means

B is for Booboo E is for Eclair T is for Twinkle Toes H is for Heartbreaker

What's Your Pet Name?

Happy Valentines Day

Hope you all have a lovely day

UCAS

Today i have finished my application for Degree. Writing the personal statement was the worst bit but at least its now done (well i still have to pay for it to be sent). It now goes to my tutor who will do a reference for me and when he has done that it will go to the right people to sort out an interview for me.

This is the statement that i have written

Since having my son 10 years ago i have re-discovered my creative side. I really enjoy playing around with different materials and can't wait to try new things. For the past 9 years i have done scrapbooking as a hobby which has helped me to have a creative outlet. With this i have worked with all sorts of new and different techniques but i have always felt that there was something missing.

I am currently on the Access to HE Art Design & Photography course and i have found the different aspects of the course very interesting. With all the different projects that we have been given i always seem to end up making something 3D. Having been given the opportunity to spend time in the workshops i have discovered that being able to work with the different materials is what i really enjoy and what i want to do. I am looking forward to being able to work with these at a different level and more in depth.

As i am a single mum i am used to dealing with lots of different things going on at the same time and being able to juggle it all successfully.

In my spare time i enjoy looking at different designers work and the designers that inspire me are Frank Gehry for the imaginary way that he uses wood and Jane Adam for her use of metal.

When i have finished this course my goal is to set up my own workshop and be a freelance designer.

At the moment i'm sat here at uni but i really can't do much because i can't use the workshop until monday because it's closed. It doesn't matter as i will have more time then.

I think its lunch time so i need to go and find something to eat.

So this is what i've been up to

The deadline has been and gone. I decided to make a handbag after playing around with the cards for ages. It's an evening bag and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Please tell me what you think. I would love to see it made out of something different.













As this one is finished we were given a new project to do. This brief is called MASS - MOVEMENT - TENSION. Great title isn't it?
I have a few ideas for it and i still have a few weeks till it has to be handed in (hand in date 6th march)

The past couple of days i have spent in the Ceramics and Glass workshop learning about all the techniques that can be done. For Ceramics it isn't just using a potters wheel you can do so much more and i can't wait till next week so i can get back in there and try different things for myself. The glass is just as good and has given me so many ideas. We were even given the time to have a go at sandblasting which is such a wonderful technique that i think i will be using alot in the future.
If you ever get the chance to try these things go for it as it isn't as hard as it looks because you can get amazing results from such simple techniques (you do need to come up with the ideas first).

I can't believe that this course is flying by because as soon this project is done we are on final piece which is put in a show that is open to the general public (scary)

Well apart from that not much has happened here. Oh yes i forgot Dom had his photo taken with the FA Cup a couple of weeks ago. What? I hear you ask, well as Portsmouth won the FA Cup last year they have been going round all the local schools so the children can have their photo taken with it (and touch it). We had a choice of how we wanted to get a copy of the photo

1. Have them do a poster of it with small photos from the cup final day. Cost £7.50
2. Download it for free from the website

Of course i went for the second choice and here it is


Are you jealous?

With the weather this week it didn't really affect us. Living on the South coast and at the bottom of a hill it didn't get too bad. On Monday it was off the roads and pavements by the evening and the same on Tuesday and we haven't had any since even though we were due for some today, we only had lots of rain.

Any way it's getting really late and i want to go and see whats happening on Twitter.
I'll be back another day (hopefully i won't leave it so long this time)