This semester for my theme, I chose to use color and the combination of it to try and create movement. Some ways I tried to do this were by mixing different colors to create the illusion of melting on the surface of the pottery. Another technique I tried was using a matte color and trying to make half of it shiny to create a disconnect with some harmony on the project. Also, I used the pipette to make different patterns with complimentary colors.
The projects I did these techniques on were my vase, my plate, and a mug. The vase is the most successful attempt I had with creating movement with the melting effect, my mug is the project where I did partially shiny and partially matte burgundy. The project where I used the pipette was my plate that was white and shadow green.
In order to make my "melting" vase I pulled a regular vase but then once I was done I altered the lip to have the effect that it was sagging. Then I put a white glaze base with black along the top of the lip so that the glaze would run down. It turned out well with a gradient of black to grey to white. To make my half-shiny mug I put made a regular mug using the handle-pulling skills I learned this year and carved a crown into the middle. On the inside I put a base of matte burgundy and then covered half of it with clear glaze. Unfortunately, the two glazes did not mix well and I ended up with a lumpy mess on my mug. Needless to say, I did not attempt to recreate this effect. I did the pipette effect on the plate because it is such a flat, dull project that I thought it could use some jazzing up. I created some swirls with the pipette out of shadow green with a base of white, hoping to get the same gradient effect that I got with the running experiment. Luckily, this technique worked and I ended up with cool gradient swirls connecting with each other on the surface of my plate.
The reason I decided to do this theme was because I believe that color can really make or break a project. Some contrast can be really interesting, but too much can create too much difference and give an undesired disconnect throughout the project. I learned this in my small vase when I made the outside tomato red and the inside black without any kind of transition. The inside was so dark that it was unappealing to the eye compared to the pinkish color. I also like making colors fade into each other because it creates an interesting unity in the piece. I learned this in my vase and my bowls in which I used cobalt blue and white and they blended into each other. Sometimes, however, glazes don't mix together very well like the clear and matte on my mug. I really enjoyed experimenting with the different mixtures to see what new colors I could make.
Having such a broad theme allowed me to have a lot of freedom in the different ways I could employ it. I learned a lot in my glaze experiments about the power of color and its effects on the project as a whole.
The projects I did these techniques on were my vase, my plate, and a mug. The vase is the most successful attempt I had with creating movement with the melting effect, my mug is the project where I did partially shiny and partially matte burgundy. The project where I used the pipette was my plate that was white and shadow green.
In order to make my "melting" vase I pulled a regular vase but then once I was done I altered the lip to have the effect that it was sagging. Then I put a white glaze base with black along the top of the lip so that the glaze would run down. It turned out well with a gradient of black to grey to white. To make my half-shiny mug I put made a regular mug using the handle-pulling skills I learned this year and carved a crown into the middle. On the inside I put a base of matte burgundy and then covered half of it with clear glaze. Unfortunately, the two glazes did not mix well and I ended up with a lumpy mess on my mug. Needless to say, I did not attempt to recreate this effect. I did the pipette effect on the plate because it is such a flat, dull project that I thought it could use some jazzing up. I created some swirls with the pipette out of shadow green with a base of white, hoping to get the same gradient effect that I got with the running experiment. Luckily, this technique worked and I ended up with cool gradient swirls connecting with each other on the surface of my plate.
The reason I decided to do this theme was because I believe that color can really make or break a project. Some contrast can be really interesting, but too much can create too much difference and give an undesired disconnect throughout the project. I learned this in my small vase when I made the outside tomato red and the inside black without any kind of transition. The inside was so dark that it was unappealing to the eye compared to the pinkish color. I also like making colors fade into each other because it creates an interesting unity in the piece. I learned this in my vase and my bowls in which I used cobalt blue and white and they blended into each other. Sometimes, however, glazes don't mix together very well like the clear and matte on my mug. I really enjoyed experimenting with the different mixtures to see what new colors I could make.
Having such a broad theme allowed me to have a lot of freedom in the different ways I could employ it. I learned a lot in my glaze experiments about the power of color and its effects on the project as a whole.