Later once this clay piece had been put through the kiln I used black copper oxides on very specific areas, and only glazed the modern looking aspect of the work. Although I do like this piece of work I believe that if I was to do this again, I would make it so as that it was a similar shape to the other work in my final piece.
With my other clay piece I attempted to look at the modern architecture, in my piece I intended to show a small section of a glass windowed building, but with the reflection of an older building in it. I created this by using an impression from card, used to create the windows, and wire, to look like the reflection, though in the process, inadvertently, I had stuck the thick black wire in the clay. Also as I had used glue to keep the wire on the card, small amounts of the glue had also gone on the clay. By doing so it meant that once this piece had been put through the kiln, the glue marks had now turned into more apparent burns, which I found very attractive in the piece and made it much more like the reflection, that it was meant to be. I also decided to use oxides and glaze on this piece and put black copper oxide on the section with the reflection and glazed all of it. This, also inadvertently, after being put through the kiln again, made the wire very shiny. If I was to do this piece again, I think I would also try looking at using other coloured wire, such as copper, as I would hope it would come out slightly more red and therefore would give the piece more colour.
In my final piece, I chose to include a plaster mould which is rather different from the other pieces, though it is still looking at modern architecture. Specifically it is looking at the sharp, irregular angles that will come from modern architecture, rather than the eroded rough lines of older buildings. I have tried to create this look by using an impression, as with my clay mould. With this piece I first attempted it in clay, where I created bold and thin lines using mediums such as wire, edges of rulers and other sharp media. I then used this to create the plaster mould. Although this did make the piece very striking, which I am fond of, it did not give such an angular effect, as found on modern buildings. So I decided to change medium and created indentations into porcelain and from this did my plaster mould which came out very nicely.
This is one of my favourite pieces and I intended to do further work into it, such as doing a glass slump into it, though as there was not enough time this could not be done for the final piece. As I did five versions of the plaster mould at different sizes, I would have liked to have tried different types of glass slumps into it. Also I indented to put my original porcelain pieces into the kiln but as there was not enough time for this, it could not be done in time for the final piece.
My glass work, which was the last part of the final piece, I decided on taking the plaster mould from the porcelain I had previously made, and creating this in glass. I did this by taking scrap pieces of coloured glass and wire and roughly placing them onto the glass at different angles and allowing them to hang off the glass. Once this had been put through the kiln all of the edges softened which I liked as it contrasted with the sharpness of the edges in the plaster mould.
Next time I would create more of these pieces for many reasons. One of these being because, as I earlier mentioned, I had intended to do a glass slump into the plaster mould using this piece. But this could not be done as I only had one. Also as it is extremely delicate because of the protruding glass from the edges it can easily break, this has happened with another of my sample glass pieces, which have been put in my sketchbook and evaluated.
When looking at my overall final piece I believe I have showed many of the techniques I have learnt over this project. I have attempted to look at many different media, although I feel more comfortable using clay, porcelain or plaster rather than glass and wire work. But this may be due to a lack of exposure to these media, so I would like to continue working with them and expanding my ideas.
by
rachelbunce1 (student)
