A Journey Through Textures

With more things that have started to demand our time, the art of walking is slowly becoming lost. There are those who make it a hobby and others who would walk more around a holiday destination rather than their own home. In a world where people rarely walk anywhere and only when they have to; do they pay any attention to what they pass? These are the sort of things I have been thinking about when working on this project and through interesting reading around the topic of walking. As my brief was to find a way to record textures I found that I was force to pay more attraction to what was around me and so then I saw more.  

Another main aim within this project was to learn how to throw and improve on the basic skills I gained last year. I have put in many hours on the wheel to meet this aim, as well as taking part in an induction, and feel that I have reach a good level of skill though I do know that it takes years to become a master.

On the Plymouth Hoe

At the same time I was working on the wheel I was trying to find an outcome for my brief to which I found slow at first. My first idea was to throw my pots and then push them into the textured surface but an earlier test I found that I didn’t like the effect. Also because of my skills on the wheel were still basic I found that I could turn them again to improve them. I thought about looking into the history that surrounds the area that I walked around to see if this would give me other ideas.

Down by the sea

 

However I then felt this was going off topic and continued to find a better way to show the texture. Then I saw a pot that had been cut and altered which led me into cutting away part of a thrown pot when leather hard and replacing the part with a textured bit of clay that I rolled out over the chosen surface. After working on this approach I found that I could get the effect that I first wanted by making the cut out clay bigger so that it bends and now has a look of movement to which I feel is fitting.  

From the wall of the Citadel

 

I have also looked into finding a glaze that would show off the texture by becoming darker in the deeper parts of the surface. Glazing however has been difficult as it rarely comes out as promise and would have been something I would have liked to develop further if I had the time. Before this project I thought glazing was a hard thing to do and so was put off doing it. Even though it takes a lot of time to find the right glaze I now know that it isn’t that hard to make them up and so happy that I got over my fear in glazing.   

On the cobble streets of the Barbican

I have found this project interesting by learning a lot more about a skill area that before I knew very little about; also the thinking that surrounds the idea of walking. Overall I feel it has been a good project and I will take many things away from it.