- Brief Overview of what you did this week, including photo documentation of process.
- Your biggest struggle of the week.
- Your biggest success of the week.
- Goal for next week.
September 14th 2025
This week, we started our first full week of 3d arts. I have previously taken this class, but I’m excited to start new projects and learn new skills this year. This week I struggled with focusing in class. I found myself doing other classwork instead of working on my current projects in this class, which led to my rushing my current projects. I’m going to try to improve on this and organize my time better for all my classes, including this one. I believe that is my goal for next week.
One thing I think I did well is collaborating with my peers. I have quite a few friends in this class, and it’s been fun getting to collaborate with them and having people I can go to for help if I need.
September 16th 2025
Here is my four-square skill builder project
September 30th 2025
My Artist Philosophy
For me, art has always been a form of self-expression. My art, 9 times out of 10, can be linked to different aspects in my life, whether it’s the materials I’ve used or the image I’ve created. Last year in this class, we had to make a found-object sculpture. I made a piece that expressed my use of art as an outlet for emotion. Even the paper I used represented a certain aspect of who I am. In my 2D art class, I made a self-portrait, and the colours I specifically used represented a certain part of my identity. I like creating art that makes people question what they’re looking at. It might not necessarily make sense to every set of eyes, but that’s why art, specifically sculpture, can be so intriguing. It’s such an interpretive way of creating. I’ve always been very inspired by different architecture and how the form of a building or the placement of a window can change the mood of an environment completely. Colours, lighting, structure, decor, and so many other factors can change someone’s mood so quickly, and this is fascinating to me. I would love it if my work had such an impact on people. I think art should leave people thinking, not always about the same things, but that’s the point. I hope to show examples of this in class.
September 30th 2025
Bar soap sculpture
For my Soap sculpture, I decided to sculpt a koi fish. I love using koi fish in my art, so this was not a new design for me.
My original sketch:
I used the lily pads to fill in any blank space on my sketch.
My 5 x 9 sketch:
After this, I began my carving process. I’ve never carved soap, and it was much more difficult than I thought it would be. I started to get the hang of it after a little while, but I made some mistakes, like cutting too much off or not properly planning what I was trying to carve. My end product wasn’t exactly what I envisioned, but I like it.
I feel that there’s a lot of room for improvement with this. The details aren’t as defined as I wanted them to be, but I quite like the way everything flows, almost giving that “under the water” effect. I like the little detail of the lily pads that I added as well. I think they add to the vibe nicely. Overall all I’m happy with this piece for my first time using a medium like this, but there’s 100% room for improvement.
October 9th 2025
These past few weeks in sculpting, I’ve worked on a couple of different things. I’ve begun working on my soapstone project. I started creating my ideation and my different ideas for what I wanted to carve. The country I chose was England, specifically the architecture in London. I know we were supposed to use sculptures, but I find the buildings and monuments so fascinating and so inspiring.
Some of the buildings I started sketching are based on the following:
I’ve started sketching these, and soon I will pick one to carve out of soapstone roughly. In the meantime, I started working on my pumpkin. I was very excited to start this as I really enjoy working with clay. I was struggling because it’s been a whole year since I worked with clay, but it came back to me pretty quickly. I mainly had trouble with wedging. Last year, I had a lot of trouble wedging my clay properly, but it’s such a key step when working with this medium, so I made sure I was doing it correctly today.
Next week I’m hoping to finish my pumpkin and begin carving my soapstone, and I’m assuming it’s going to be quite a tedious process with details and because I’ve never worked with soapstone, and I want to be proud of what I make. Therefore, I will be putting in a lot of effort to make sure the vision of what I want comes to life properly.
October 2
For my soapstone process, I found a picture of a teapot sculpture in London that I really like. The artist for this piece is very unknown, and this is the only sculpture I could find from him. His name is Rome Richard, and he’s from the U.K. This sculpture is displayed in a garden in London, but I couldn’t find out where, as I said, he is very unknown.
I don’t know why I was so drawn to this image, but I like the creativity of the sculpture and the way he made such a simple object so interesting to look at. So I decided to ideate this by making a melting teapot out of soapstone. I’ve kept the additives of the extra spout, and I made the melting pieces out of hot glue, as it was very hard to sculpt that.
This is a very rough draft of what my sculpture will look like, but I will be adding more detail and smoothing it to give it the finished look.
October 23rd 2025
Last year, for my pumpkin, I made one inspired by one of my favourite Marvel characters, Venom. I was very happy with that design and i wanted to do something similar this year. I decided to do a pumpkin inspired by the Marvel character The Scorpion. He is one of Spider-Man’s main villains and his character design is very intriguing; therefore, I began my concept.
My inspo:
I began carving my oot with clay, which is a familiar medium to me. I started by making two separate cups and pinching them together. I then started adding the details that make The Scorpions look so distinctive. One thing I wanted to add for sure was the Scorpion tail that actually differentiates the character from any other.
Rough design:
I added the tail and faded it into the stem of the pumpkin to make it cohesive. I added fangs as I felt it fit and the very distinctive eyes. After this, I began the underglaze and added the colours.
I found this design similar to my venom pumpkin from last year, but I was very happy with how it turned out. Unfortunately, the tail/stem broke in the front before having it fired, which was a little upsetting since it’s such a distinct part of my design and the character, but I’m going to fire those pieces, then glue them on, then finally glaze my pumpkin!
Where it’s at right now:
I will update the finished photo when it’s glazed, but I’m still quite happy with how it’s turned out so far.
My artist statement:
My soapstone sculpture greatly connects with my artistic philosophy of using my creativity and self-expression. I am drawn to the idea that art can show different aspects of your life, and I really enjoyed the soapstone I did, as the original sculpture, from what I researched, was loosely based on Alice in Wonderland. I loved Alice in Wonderland when I was younger, and the movie’s message really resonates with me as it touches on the theme of embracing imagination and curiosity as you grow up. My purpose in creating this piece was to take a simple object and twist it into my own idea, much like the original creator, Richard Rome, did with a simple teapot.
Throughout my process, I allowed the natural shape and texture of the stone to guide my creative choices. I started by sketching my “melting teapot” and choosing a stone that I could see the design in. I then carved it using different tools and sanding materials. The process was interesting as I’ve never worked with soapstone, and I didn’t know how to deal with it originally when I started carving, but I quickly got the hang of it, and I’m proud of how it’s going.
In this work, I focused on form, texture and shape when carving. I feel these are the three main elements when working with soapstone, specifically texture, as you really can change a lot based on that.
The theme of my sculpture is creativity and imagination. I wanted to portray my vision, and I hope others are able to understand my idea of taking a simple object and making it their own.
November 11, 2025
This week in sculpting, I worked on my soapstone quite a bit. I was really happy that I’d finished the sculpture part, and now I’m onto sanding. This was a new medium for me, so I was nervous when it came to sculpting my design. I’m happy with the final product, and I hope it looks even better after sanding.
My biggest struggle this week was getting caught up on missing assignments and due dates. I’ve felt a little behind in this class, specifically when it comes to blog posts and due dates for my projects. I would love to stay on track with my blog posts as they are not a difficult task, but only take some time to complete.
My biggest success this week was finally completing my soapstone after having so much trouble with it. I had no idea what I wanted to complete and how I wanted to ideate it, but finally, I feel happy with my final product, and I’m hoping to finish the sanding soon and really be able to see the finished look.
Next week, I hope to get started on my coil vessel as I already have some ideas for it, and I’m excited to get started and work with clay a bit, as I really enjoy that medium. I’m also excited that I get to collaborate with friends for this project, and I think it’ll be a cool thing to create.
November 23rd 2025
This week in sculpting, I began creating my coil vessel. I currently don’t have my sketchbook with me, so I can not show my concept drawing, but my group members decided to do an ocean/under the sea kind of theme. I really wanted to include an octopus in mine and have its arms draping over my vessel, and I’ve begun sculpting that, but it’s pretty hard to make sure everything stays in place. My inspo pics for this project are just different coil vessels I researched on Pinterest.
Ex
: 
Just simple coiling with some spirals and different pieces incorporated that give it that under-the-sea vibe.
Mine so far looks like this:
I added a shell with a pearl, and then I don’t have photos, but I’ve also added a coral bed and the beginning of an octopus.
I really didn’t expect to enjoy this project so much, but it’s been really fun for me. I feel so creative, adding all the different sea elements and finding different things I can add in. I also really like the design of a coil vessel. I think it’s a very interesting pattern and gives a unique look to even simple designs.
I did struggle slightly with getting my different sea elements to stick. At first, I was using a lot of slips, and my spirals weren’t staying, and I was very concerned about how it was going to work out, but the more time I took and when I made sure not to rush things, it all ended up working out. I’m very happy with the outcome so far.
The following week, I’m hoping to finish my coil vessel and paint it, then hopefully get started on my inquiry project as I have a few good ideas on what I can do.
November 28th 2025
For my coil research, I used Pinterest to find different ideas for what I could create out of clay. My group and I decided to do an ocean theme all including one sea creature in our vessel. I chose an octopus for this, and here are some of the photos that inspired that.
These photos helped me create my concept drawing with my different ideations. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted my vessel to look like, so I didn’t do five ideations. I only did three.
The first two at the top are my ideations. My hope when creating this vessel was to add different elements that related to the sea. I added a Clam, a Coral reef and an octopus to the sketch to make it seem like a clip from under the water. I hoped that I would fill in negative space by adding these elements and that I could fill anything unused with lots of colour and patterns.
Concept drawings
Our concept drawings all relate as we all focus on a certain sea creature, which I believe really ties the look together.
So far, after sculpting and undergalzing, my vessel looks like this:
I’m very happy with the colours and how it’s looking so far. I was a little upset because my octopus original had an accurate 8 arms, but slowly they began to break while drying. Instead of trying to fix it, I adapted and made the octopus look dead and as if its arms had been ripped off. I’m excited for it to be fired and then glazed.
Inquiry project
For my inquiry project, I will be creating a mini model of a house that I sketched out. Some inspo I had for these sketches were the following:
I would consider this project mixed media and construction sculpture. I would like to create this project, as after high school, I plan to go into architecture, and I believe that creating these sketches and working out the ideation with full creative freedom can really inspire me for the future and give me a deeper understanding of what I’m going into. I think there will 100% be some challenges faced during this project. I’ve never done anything similar to this; therefore, I really have to work out this process and make sure I’ve planned out all my sketches and what materials I need.
December 7th 2025
This week in sculpting, I was very productive with my projects and worked on a lot, as I’m very anxious to get started on my inquiry project. First, my coil vessel was bisque-fired, and I was able to glaze it. I’m very happy with how it’s turned out so far, and I’m excited to see the final results. One thing I did struggle with was that after my vessel was bisque-fired, several arms on my octopus broke off. This was worrying to me as I thought it was going to ruin the look, but I ended up making the octopus look dead, and so far, that looks pretty good. There was also a bit of cracking on it, especially with the clam I sculpted, but after glazing it should hold pretty well.
photos of before and after glazing:
This was my first time waxing the bottom of my project. To be honest, I was unaware I had to do that with my projects, as I never learned it last year. It was a pretty easy process and was somewhat satisfying. Now I’m just waiting for it to be fired, and I will then post the final product.
On top of that, I also began my wheel project. I’ve decided to make mini cream and sugar holders for an almost tea set, and they’re going to be Alice in Wonderland-themed.
My ideations are the following:
These were my original ideas, and they changed somewhat after I made my concept drawings to fit my theme better
Concept drawing:
They’re supposed to mimic a little drink me cup from Alice in Wonderland, and it’s going to have a playing card underneath or somehow incorporated in. The next one is a little hourglass, and the last one is based on the flowers from Alice in Wonderland, with the flower being the cup and then having leaves around it.
I’m excited to start this project as my ideas are based on a movie that I find very visually aesthetic, and I think they’ll turn out super cute.
My original inspo for these little cups was the following:
All pretty simple, but have the overall vibe I’m going for. I’ve started my six pratice vessels on the wheel and I’ll include phtotos of the first one vs. the last:
I feel that the improvement is quite noticeable and I’m happy I can start my project now.