Making Ceramic Bowls (Open & Closed Form)

For this ceramic project, I learned how to make bowls, using the pottery wheel and making my own glaze, for the first time. I made a couple of bowls, but there was a lot of trial and error in making them and having the edges stay strong and sturdy. In total, I ended up with six bowls. With all the bowls I made, I started by forming the amount of red clay I wanted to use into a medium sized ball. After preparing the wheel, gathering all of my tools, a bucket of water, and sponge to keep the clay and wheel wet, I would take the medium sized ball of clay and turn on the well. In adding height and width to my bowls, I used the slip and score method, would use repetitive movements on the top and sides of my clay, and would force the clay to move up or bend. I repeated this process until I liked the end result, and have a completed bowl. I would also use a metal cord tool to cut of or slice any parts of my creation that I wanted to remove.

Four of my bowls were turned into a an open-formed set. After forming these four bowls and letting them dry, I made a glaze consisting of bone ash, epsom salt, and a mix of different colored amaco velvet underglazes. For the underglazes, I mixed small amount of red, white, and blue underglazes, which formed into a faint lavender color that I painted onto the bowls. I accidentally watered down my glaze, and during the first bisque firing of my bowls in the kiln, a good amount of the glaze melted off. The glaze that did stay on had this starchy feel, was somewhat cakey, and the color changed from lavender, to patches of pastel pink and blue. These dark blue and black dots also formed in the inside of the bowls, most likely from the burns. In finishing these bowls, I added a clear glaze, and a little bit of white glaze, for the glaze firing.

Two of my bowls were turned into a closed-form set. These two bowls below are technically four bowls, and each bowl is made of two bowls stacked on top of each other.

For its first bisque firing, I painted the bowls, with a purple amaco velvet underglaze for the bottom, and a watered down version of that same glaze for the top part. Before its glaze firing, I went over the top half of the bowls with white glaze, and experimented dripping other colored underglazes around the vessel. I mixed red, purple, and some white glazes to make pink glaze, and I had intended to drip dark purple, almost indigo glaze, but in mixing I accidentally used more red than blue.

The end result of these bowls came out very volcano-like, becoming over the abstract pieces out of the six bowls. I am satisfied with how the four bowls set came out, I want continue work on these two bowls and use more gloss mediums, as the surface came out rougher than I'd like. Overall, my ceramic work, has included organic shaping and lines to its form, and complimentary color schemes.