Week 1
September 7th 2022
Today we are starting with edublog tests.
Week 2
September 12th 2022
My chosen project is a set of mugs and teacup with animals or fruit on the inside because I want to work on my wheel work skills. The reason why I want to make this i really like the idea of having a surprise at the bottom of cup and thought it would a cute idea. I have seen a lot of designs online of this kind of work with clay and I wanted to try it out. I also chose this kind of ceramics because I like mugs and thought it would cool to have my owe set of mugs with a teacup. To begin this project I think I need to sketch out my idea first and see what design errors there could be especially with the teapot seeing what design is the best for me to create.
My goals for this week for inquiry project: Finish the design/ figuring out what kind of design I would like to have on the outside, inside, and for the teapot. Some challenges I faced this week are finding a sketchbook and figuring out the design I wanted. how I overcame these challenges are I looked around my house for one of my old sketch books and I spent time figuring out what I wanted the mugs to look like.My goal for next week is to finish on designing the set and/or make a finish copy of it, and maybe start on making the set.
Inspiration photos:
week 3
Sgrafitto Tile:
For my sgrafitto tile I had chosen to do a flora design and my partner Moiya had decided to connect our tiles using clouds.
these are my three inspirational photos:
The next image is what my sgrafitto tile design looked like
After i finished making the slab and carving the design into the slab I had put it on the rack to be fire. when I put it on the rack the tile wasn’t completely bone dry which is what I think could’ve caused it to explode while it was being fired. I had made another one and I made sure it was bone dry before putting it on the rack to be fired. This time the tile hadn’t exploded in the kiln which makes me think I was right about the tile not being bone dry. Today I am planning on glazing the tile.
this is the finished Sgrafitto Tile:
In the end It did come out as I envisioned it in my head, there were some challenges but I overcame them and got my finished product.
Week 4
September 26
This week my goal is to finish my sgrafitto tile and continue working on my inquiry project slowly. Since my first sgrafitto tile had exploded in the kiln I had to restart my project. It only took about 2 days to finish the first part because the tile had to be bone dry before it went into the kiln which was most likely how my first project exploded. Today I will put glaze on the tile and hopefully my project will be fired at some point this week and I will have a complete sgrafitto tile.
Week 6
This week my goal is to start on making ideas on my plate project. This week I don’t have very much to do so I will most likely put most of my attention to this.
week 7
October 17 2022
Life Below Water
This week my goal is to start on my Life below water project and finish my research on my sea creature; the northern abalone. At some point this week I would also like to start on making my sea creature. Last week I had completed my goal by creating an idea for what I wanted to do and getting it developed.
3 images of the Northern Abalone
Threats to the Northern Abalone
One of the biggest threats to the Northern Abalone is the illegal harvest on them. The Northern Abalone have unique mating habits making it harder for them to create more. As the Northern Abalone mature they move to shallow water since they thrive there; this makes it easier to harvest and sell, making it harder to for them to procreate. Another threat is habitat loss, since their habitats aren’t researched it makes it harder for them to live because of people building over top of their habitats.
How to help Northern Abalone
Ways to help these sea creatures thrive and get off the endangered list is to stop illegal harvest and fishing for them less. Without the main cause to their disappearance they can thrive better. Another thing is to study the habitat and make sure that no one is building over top of it. Even though they are protected when it comes to hunting and selling them they are not protected when it come to their habitat. If we were to research and protect the habitat they could possible get their population numbers up and get off of the endangered list.
week 8
This week my goal is to finish sculpting my Life Below Water project and possible start painting it. I was able to complete all of my goals from last week and finish a few bits of my inquiry.
week 9
This week my goal is to continue to work on the painting and texturizing of my Life Below Water project. Last week I was able to finish all of my goals. One difficulty from last week was getting the texture right when I started to paint my shell.
week 10
This week my goal is to finish painting my life below water project and do the end of project post where I show my project. Last week I was able to finished most of my Life Below Water painting and texturizing. One challenge I had last week is getting the texturizing right.
Life Below Water Project
My Creature: Northern Abalone
Examples/inspiration:
When I had started to create my project it was difficult to get the texturing right. To get the texture right I had used my fingers to make indents and smooth it out to get the indents as similar as possible. I didn’t need to use to much time on the shaping my creature since it isn’t too difficult of a shape.
After it had been bisque fired I had started to work on how to paint it. Mx.Vittie had told me to paint it darkest to lightest. Looking at my Inspiration the darkest colour on it was a dark brown so I had mixed up a colour that was the most similar to it and painted all over the top of the shell. The bottom of the shell is an pearl colour so I just painted it white. 
when I started to add the colours I started with the turquoise because the because it was the boldest colour on the shell and to add texture I would build the turquoise and the white. 
once I had finished adding all of the colours I started on trying to making waves in the shell using gloss medium mixed with the colour of paint I needed. once I was finished with that step I had used a sponge and painted that was brown mixed with a green to make a dark brown with a green undertone. I used the sponge and dabbed it all over the shell. After that I had taken a lighter brown and did the same thing. Finally I had taken a dark turquoise and dabbed only along the turquoise part to make it brighter.
This is the finished product.
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The bottom part was easier to do the the top. To get the colour right I had made a light purple and a light green. With those I applied it al over the white and blended with my finger. After that I had mixed both those colours with pearl paint and did the same. To finish it I just mixed the pearl paint with the gloss medium and applied it to the bottom of the shell. I had also put the gloss medium on the top of the abalone to get a glossy look.
This is the underside
This is the total finished project
Northern Abalone Artist statement
week 13
This week my plan is to continue working on my inquiry project and continue working on my paper mache mask. At this point I am at the start of my project. I have finished the base of my mask and the design, my plan is to start on the paper mache at some point this week. Last week one of my challenges I had was making my mask 3D.
Mask artist statement:Rabbit Mask
Inquiry: Process
I started out my project with a similar idea to what I ended up creating. At first I want to make a solid colour mug set with an animal on the inside with a teapot. While I was testing out if I would be able to do all of the things I wanted to I realized some parts of it would be very difficult for me. I changed having a teapot to having three small dishes that went along with each of the mugs. I also changed the design of the mug from being a solid colour to having fruits and flowers on the outside and solid on the inside. I also decided against having an animal attached to the bottom of the mug because I had tested it out and I just didn’t like the end product. One of the things I had the most difficulty with is pulling the handle. Pulling the handle was a struggle for me to get it the length and size correct for each mug. After having practiced pulling multiple times I finally got the handles that I wanted for my mugs. It also took me a couple of tries when I was making my mugs on the wheel.
Another thing I struggled with was attaching the handles onto the mugs. When I was first practicing this I struggled to get the clay to leather hard so I would be able to attach them to each other and when I was scratch and slipping. In the end I was able to attach all the handles first try on my inquiry project.
While I was painting them I had a friend help me paint one of the mugs, her name is Kendra Kirk. I was very happy with the end product of my project, though many things were changed during the process of making it. I am still very proud of my work. 
Inquiry : Product
Blossoming Fruits
Clay, Underglaze, Glaze
Jan 20th 2023, Emma Michael
My initial idea was to make 4 mugs and a teapot. The design was going to be solid on the outside with an animal on the inside and the teapot having the animals painted on the outside with a solid colour underneath. After testing things out before my final product I realized what things I need to change. I ended up changing the solid colour of the mugs being on the inside instead of out, fruits and flowers on the outside, no animal on the inside, only three mugs, three plates, and flowers on the plates. The thing I learned most during this project is how to properly attach handles to mugs and how to pull handles.