Shania Stiller
As a first year advanced student
I would consider myself to have improved immensely. I started out with shallow
and short bowls and now can use my skills to their full potential. This
semester I decided that my theme would be size from small to big. I chose this
theme because the more I learned the bigger the projects got. However, throwing
big projects was a difficult task and I had some big shoes to
fill.
Earlier on this year I started
out by throwing small works of art. I began with small bowls and vases, nothing
to difficult to make. I thought to myself that this was clearly not enough and
that I needed to challenge myself. In doing so I created my first tea set, my
tea set consisted of: tea pot, sugar jar, creamer, saucers and of course lids
to match the pot and jar. This tea set took a lot of time and effort but it was
a great relief to see it finished. After the tea set I was sure that I wanted
to spend some time on a less difficult piece. I started to make bowls again,
they were around four or five inches wide. They were wide but not as tall as I
had wanted them. Although all of
them were creatively glazed which made up for their lack in size. I then started
to experiment with throwing with larger pieces of clay. Turns out when you use
larger pieces of clay you can make larger projects, if you can center them. My
bowls were now ranging from six to eight inches wide instead of four or five:
this was a major improvement. I became bored with throwing bowls and decided
that I would try to pull up as tall as I could, and that was the start of my
large projects.
Ceramics does not come naturally
to everyone, but I seem to have a knack for it. It also helps that I love making
art and put that energy into all of my projects when I make them. To make all
projects I started out by centering. Depending on the project I would use the
right amount of clay, sometimes a hand full and sometimes ¼ of a brick of clay.
When I center I use all of my bodies force against the project, especially when
I am centering larger projects. When I made my bowls I started out by making
them wide and not very tall. There usually was a large sum of unused clay at
the bottom of these projects, which made Mrs. Heideman very sad. When I finally
figured out not to use so much pressure on my project I was able to throw
taller projects. The first tall project I made was a small vase. I became
better as I practiced; I was even able to throw medium sized pitchers and
vases. The pitchers and vases all
involved the choking technique. I also use the choking technique when I throw
large tall projects to keep them on center. As for bowls I started to use my
handy dandy tools, the blue rib especially works nicely on getting that perfect
bowl shape. The blue rib can also be used on the outside to make a smooth
textured look to the project. I had a moment of inspiration that I should
combine a bowl and a vase together to make a bottle project. To make a bottle
project you pull up as much as you can, depending on the size you need a tall
cylinder. After you have your cylinder, take your blue rib and bubble out the
bottom for an even shape. Then you start to choke the top to give off the
bottle effect. Once that’s complete take your number seven tool and scrape away
all the excess clay.
This semester has not been an
easy task; I wanted to challenge myself. I couldn’t think of any better way than
to throw with as much clay as Doug Knox. Doug inspired me to throw bigger and
better projects. He also helped me along the way, teaching me the ways of the
large project master. Now, Doug made throwing a big project so easy, I thought
I could do it for sure. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that it was
going to take a lot more than a day to master this skill. Being my size it took
massive amounts of pressure to center such a large piece of clay, I was
literally putting all of my body weight into the clay. One of the many
challenges I faced was my hands, my hands are not nearly the size of Doug’s
hands. To center a large amount of clay I would sometimes use part of my wrist
to center because my hands were not big enough to get the clay completely
centered. Another obstacle was pulling the project up to its full height. I had
already had problems with pulling up in the past but I was eager to learn to
throw big. I found that when I pulled up larger projects they would get off
balance from the bottom being to small and the top to wide. I fixed this
problem with some choking; choking helped me get the size of the top matching
to the size of the bottom. Also it always helps to have extra clay at the
bottom of your project if you are throwing a big project, this helps it stay
balanced and is less likely to collapse. I learned to face all of my challenges
with help from Mrs. Heideman and Doug.
Making art is one of my favorite
things to do. I liked ceramics so much that I want to take it in college. I saw
myself improve throughout the semester of advanced ceramics; I wish I wasn’t
already a senior because I would take ceramics again. I want to thank Mrs.
Heideman for being a great instructor and teaching me something new everyday.
As for my projects, lets just say that size does matter, go big or go home.
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