Vessels Project 2: Containers with Lids 2013

 My second project was to create 5 containers with lids that implied continuous or closed form.

This container is like 2 containers in one. It's made of 3 parts. The bottom is meant to hold a candle which heats oil that would be in the middle portion and the lid would cap off the top.

This is the tragic tale of a beloved teapot and a homeless bird. I was inspired by the works of Davis Vachon for this particular container. I really liked his bird finials, so I designed a teapot that resembled a bird house and had a bird for a finial. I had quite a few problems with this container. The first time I made it, the attachments began to crack a lot. I scrapped it and made it again. I was able to construct it without cracking and tweaked some of its design. It looked great and I was really excited to glaze it after it came out of the bisque firing. I was about to dunk the teapot in glaze, but before it could make it to the bucket, the body of the teapot popped off the handle (which I was holding) and shattered into a million pieces of crushed dreams. I know a piece is too fragile to hold by the handle before its fired, but I never expected a bisqued piece to do that. Anyways, never doing that again. The lid survived because I set it aside to dunk separately. You can just imagine how pretty the teapot was by looking at the lid can't you? Yup, I know.

This container is lovely. It is also incomplete. I made a container with a lid that was supposed to sit inside of it, but the top of the lid collapsed inward during the glaze firing and sealed the container up forever. The perforated cylinder is nice on its own though. It's really cool to hold.

Two weeks of my life were dedicated to constructing this container. I sculpted and attached  179 roses (yes, I counted them) to an egg/melon shaped container. The lid is removable, but I cant really see this as being functional anyways since picking it up is scary enough. I left it unglazed. I really like bare porcelain. I intend to make more rose forms, but I need to find the time >.<.

My last container was a kimchi pot (onggi), but I forgot to get a picture of it. It looks just like an onggi, but I didn't consider how they seal the lid on, so I don't think it can be used for kimchi... That's ok, it's a cookie jar now.