Over the past term in pottery, I have enjoyed working and playing with clay and being able to experiment with different techniques. I especially found it difficult using the manual pottery wheel as I had no experience with it and we weren’t specifically taught how to use it. Despite this, I still tried to use the wheel to create a round shape as it is such an iconic aspect of the pottery process. I think playing around with the pottery wheel was very fun and managing the spinning with one hand whist moulding the clay with the other hand was a unique experience and definitely something I’ll look back on, especially those times the clay fell off the wheel.
So far, challenges encountered included decision making and also technique. As we were not taught specific techniques, I found it difficult to make some pieces and turned to the internet. This, however, took a lot of time as I would have to alternate between research and clay work and slowed the overall process. I think this challenge could have been better amazed by researching and preparing in advance and then apply the knowledge rather than simultaneously researching and handling clay.
The image at the top of this page is my first creation. The man was inspired by a description my biology teacher made which my friends and I found very funny and I decided to make a recreation. After it was fired for the first time in the kiln, the earphones and ears sadly hardened and cracked off the structure. Luckily, the arms and legs had enough adhesion to remain attached. Following this event, I researched the proper way to connect two separate parts of clay together using the score and slip method and it is definitely something I will remember in my next work. Next lesson, I will work on a new piece and hopefully, it will allow me to save some time as I will be able to paint the two pieces simultaneously as well as enabling me to make a small series with similar colour tones and styles.