Donation Piece: Bella Rubal Period 7
I used this piece as my inspiration, but I ended up adding a lot more hearts.
To make this piece I began by rolling out a big piece of slab. I drew out a template on a manila folder so I could make sure the sides were equal. Next I made the actual cup shape and beveled the sides to make them fit smoothly together. After doing this I smoothed out the cup and added a bottom. Next I rolled out a bunch of tiny and thing coils that would become my heart shapes. I rolled out two of the same size, pinched them at the top, and the folded the sides down into the heart. I scored and slipped the mug and the hearts and attached each one. Finally, I added the handle. After it came out of the kiln, I glazed it with a white gloss glaze, I used a pink on the hearts, which turned out not as bright as I was hoping.
Some principles of design found in this piece are balance and variety. There is Blaine seen because the piece is pretty much symmetrical, weight wise. If you were to cut it in half, both sides would look structurally the same and weigh the same. There is variety because each one of the hearts is different. Some are bigger, some are smaller, and they all have a slightly different thickness to them. I ended up really liking this piece, and I'm glad I got to keep it. Everything structurally turned out really nice, except it is slightly crooked. But the glazing was not the best. For some reason I am just not good at glazing, and it never turns out how I envision it. This time, The glazing looks really nice on the white parts of it, but the pink got really rough. I made the hearts too thin and small so I couldn't control the brush enough to make it perfect. Some of the hearts are missing glaze on the edges, and towards the end I started rushing because I was running out of time, so there is a few pink spots on the white background, but they aren't too noticeable.
This piece doesn't really have any inner meaning to me. I chose to make it just because I really liked the design of the hearts all over the mug, and I thought it was cute. It doesn't have any deep meaning necessarily, but it still does mean something to me. I am going to give it to my Grandma, and I know she will love it. I made the mug with her in mind, as I knew I wanted to give it to her. This piece may not be my best, but I am still proud of it, and it turned out pretty good.
