The good news is, my "cartoon bear" from the last post made it from my little apartment to school & onto the kiln shelf intact. Now comes the waiting... and trying to remain patient. I often feel I use up all my good patience at work, and then when it comes to getting things done in my personal life... I want it all to happen now, and I have to admit, it's one thing that drives me crazy about ceramics in the classroom setting... the waiting for firing- which could take weeks (or longer!) Aiiiiiiiii!!! So, in the meantime, what's a girl to do but do more work. I swore I wasn't going to work in my apartment again due to the tight space & constant clean up, but sure enough, as soon as I dropped off the Big Bear, wouldn't you know I picked up another bag of clay & got right to work the very next day. Here's the finished bear (soon to be in line w/ his buddy on the kiln shelf!) He's quite a bit smaller- about 8 inches tall & 16 inches long, which is still rather large, considering what I was doing before I started this class.
Another angle below~
I rather like the way it turned out... a bit less cartoonish & more bear-like to me.
And while I won't bore you all to tears with a million photos on process like I did last time, I will share a few... lucky you!
:)
I figured it would be easier if downshifted a bit, and went a little smaller this time... still working mostly w/ slab construction. I also figured I'd let the slabs dry a bit instead of working w/ wetter slabs that tend to collapse. Problem w/ that was, the thinner/drier slabs tended to crack during construction... so I was constantly re-wetting, smoothing & repairing as I went along. My 3 hour project turned in to an all day affair. I don't feel my construction was all that consistent, so I figure this one has a pretty good chance of blowing apart during the firing... so we'll see. Here's the work in progress below~
And as usual, there was the problem w/ the dreaded head! I can see in my mind exactly how I want it to look, but I can't seem to get the picture in my head to translate to the form!
Yes, again I redid his head at least 3 times before I could live with it.
Though the pic above would probably adequately describe how I was feeling as I was trying to get it right. And now, again comes the waiting game. In the meantime, I have been working on some assignments for class... but nothing I have really been able to sink my teeth into, or get really excited about, though I'll probably post some assignments here at some point or another. I have, however, been checking out various different types of sculptural clay online, & ordered a few clay books that I'm (im)patiently waiting for. There are certain types of clays that tend to be a bit more forgiving which would be a huge plus for larger sculptural works, and I'm anxious to give them a try. Until next time!
:)
