The march continues

Happy New Year!

After a holiday season that unfortunately did not afford me much opportunity to work in my studio, I am back at marching right along with my Honors Project!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have begun pieces 4 & 5, selected the representative foundations for the fundraising portion of my project, begun the glazing phase of pieces 1 through 3 and completed a supply inventory and need list for the remainder of my project.  I have also been working on the design of my show advertising and compiling research for the informational component of my project.  These are just a few of the many tasks I am working on J

Let’s delve into some of these tasks a little more, shall we?

Piece #4 is for Pregnancy Loss.  I am approaching the creation of this piece in two separate techniques.  I am solely coil building the piece for one of the techniques.  (Coil building is where a piece is comprised of many hand rolled coils that are stacked and manipulated to create the form of a piece)  It is sort of like when we made ‘snakes’ out of play dough when we were children, but instead of trying to ‘scare’ our playmates with the ‘snakes,’ they are pieced together to form a large ‘snake pile’ structure J  As for the other technique, I am attempting to incorporate slab building and coil building. (Slab building is where a lump of clay is rolled out and flattened into a slab. (Sort of like pizza dough or dough for cut-out cookies)  I am crudely manipulating slabs on a dress form to get the basic shape I desire and then I will connect coils to the slab form for support and continuity (adding the back of the form) once both have reached sufficient rigidity (this means the clay needs to be stiff enough to support itself against gravity, but still remain malleable for further manipulation)

For piece #5, which is for Bone Cancer, I am experimenting with creating a whole out of individual pieces.  I am making individual bones that I will articulate after the firing processes.  I am in the hopes that at least one of my possible methods of articulating the pieces will work J  So far, I am entertaining using pre-drilled holes, wire and epoxy for minimal movement or using only epoxy for zero mobility.  We shall see J

As for the glazing phase of the first 3 pieces, I only have the last coat of color to apply and a coat of clear.  It is my hope that I will be able to begin the final firing of these pieces this weekend.  (Ref: Pieces 1-3 are Autism, Gynecological & Testicular)

The design for my show advertising is proving to be a little more complicated that I bargained for-or maybe I am just being indecisive?  An artist indecisive? Never! HAHA.  Anyhow, I have been working on a couple of art concepts and sketches at every available moment I get.  However, if any of my readers would like to give suggestions, I am all for it!!  If I am given suggestions, the author will be given due credit J Who knows, maybe you will become famous!

On a bit of a sour note, I have come up against a pretty significant problem where my project is concerned L  With thanks to an uncharacteristically wet winter and an under insulated studio, I am having significant issues in getting the clay to dry. However, I have a couple of possible solutions on the table; such as, installing dehumidifiers or creating an area within my studio that can be retrofitted to promote climate control and air movement.  Any other possible solutions given would be greatly appreciated J  Either way, I will persevere!

I believe that is enough for this post, until next time, please enjoy the photos and feel free to give me any suggestions that may help with my endeavor J

*Due to a technical issue with the image loader for this blog, please click the link below to view the progress photos

http://s755.beta.photobucket.com/user/MoireErin/library/BLOG