Raku Ho'olaule'a - UH Manoa 2014

"Raku Ho`olaule`a is an annual community Raku ceramics workshop, firing and camp out in a beach side setting at one of Oahu’s beautiful beach parks. It brings together ceramic artists to participate in raku and pit firing techniques." - hawaiicraftsmen.org

This year's Raku workshop was at Camp Mokule'ia on the North Shore of O'ahu. Shown above are some people from the UH group: Genji, Gideon, Laura, John, and Ji Soo. Also a part of the group was Abi, Sara, Jake, Theresa, and myself. The workshop lasted from Friday to Monday during Memorial Day weekend and was jam packed with adventures. Roosters and chickens roamed the camp site; sometimes crowing at 4:00 am... The beach was awesome. Theresa and I got burnt pretty good, but the crystal water, shells, and turtles were worth it. It was my first time camping (Huzzah! >:D) and as campers do, we made smores (thank you John for bringing the supplies :D). It stormed that weekend too. There was rain at some point each day, but it was really intense on Sunday. Lightning and thunder roared above the camp, but the Raku continued on!

Ji Soo, Theresa, and Genji hard at work glazing.

Kiln fiiireeeeeeeee!

Genji's creations

Filling up the kiln

Lookie look at that! John and Gideon

Ji Soo!

Heeerrreee's Jake!

Genji special drip technique activated!

Ji Soo's strong men!

Genji's horsehair and sugar on burnished pots

Sizzling hair

John's burnished pots

John and Sarah

Abi xD

Theresa rakuingggg

This is what happens when you wear slippers

Inside the kiln

Sculpture Project 4: Claymation- Candy Monster

Sculpture Project 3: Multiples 2014

I've noticed a use of multiples in much of my work while taking on this project. My rose pot had multiple roses, set of cups- holes, caterpillar- seeds, urchin- spikes. The process is familiar to me and noticeably time & labor intensive, so for this project I chose a simpler direction that still incorporated my style.
I threw a sphere on the wheel, perforated it, then filled it with colored and pinched the porcelain discs. The 'multiple' aspect of my sphere is the red discs within, but the perforations are a multiple in themselves as well.
Overall, the creation process is really simple to me. Not much sculpting was involved, yet I'm very much drawn in by its visual and tactile qualities. It has a reference to containment through the discs and the contrasting of red interior with white exterior. Viewers are prompted to hold the sphere and touch the shifting discs.
It sounds like pennies, which is pretty cool too owo.

Sculpture Project 2: Replication and scale

Project 2 involves replicating an object at a different scale. I chose to make a sea Urchin.
I threw a thick bowl and perforated it with three different sized holes. I then rolled out coils of three different lengths for each hole size. At the tip of each spike is point of porcelain with cobalt pigment. I left the piece unglazed because I like bare porcelain, but also because I wouldn't be able to tough or move it after completion...
The spikes rest inside the perforated dome and it takes about an hour to assemble.

Caterpillar Finished!

I finally finished my first sculpture project, which I call Caterpillar. Even though it's not a caterpillar, the shape just kinda fit the name.
During the bisque, one of the seed pods cracked off and fell into a burner. It broke into a few pieces and the part that was in the burner shrunk more. After, much debate and receiving suggestions from my peers and professors, I decided to reassemble the pod even though the pieces didn't fit right and much of the interior was missing.
Thank you Matias for lending me epoxy and apoxie to fix it. I was able to attach all the pieces and sculpt in the missing parts.
After patching it up, I painted it with acrylic paint and finished it with a matte clear coat.

Carved Beads and Slip Dots 2013

I was having some fun with dots of slip and carving beads. I really like the beads. One side kind of looks like a fish bone xD. They're something I want to explore more.

Set of Cups 2013

I've thrown quite a bit of stuff, but I realized that they all seem very individual and almost scattered. I created this set of cups while thinking back on my first project for vessels. I also experimented with a glaze combination of turquoise and orange. They look good together, but some parts flaked off.

Slip Exploration 2013

I wanted to do more exploration with thick application of slip as a means for texture. I don't usually have texture on my work, but I like the soft forms that slip creates.

Glaze Exploration 2013

I used these cups to experiment with a glaze. It's usually purple, but in some instances, it turns blue. It could be thick application, placement in the kiln, or perhaps the type of firing. I also experimented with a way to dunk it in order to achieve a sort of drippy look.

This cup has purple and blue. Uniquely, the bottom is completely purple.

Lonely drip.

This cup was the perfect size for my morning yogurt. I recently dropped and chipped it though T_T

Carved Cups 2013

I really like carving pieces. The way glaze pools in the recessed areas is quite beautiful. It looks amazing with this olive glaze too, but we ran out of it :(.

Flower Jar 2013

I made this jar mainly as a test to see what my roses looked like with glaze. Something went weird with the firing, because the glaze was supposed to be like a celadon, but now it looks like dirty water. I think I like them bare though. I'm more attracted to matte surfaces than glossy.

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.

Vessels Project 1: The Drinking Container 2013

My first project for my vessels class was to create 2 sets of 6 cups. These cups had to be designed for a specific liquid. One of the important aspects of this assignment was to be able to create identical cups. Being able to replicate a form over and over again is a skill that requires much practice.

My first set was designed for hot liquids. I approached this form with insulated cups in mind. Each cup is made of two parts; a cup with a rounded bottom which sits in a bottomless cylinder with perforations. The perforated cylinder acts as a handle so one can hold the cup without being burned. Both components are held together through the glaze. I really like this design. They're not very identical, but it's visually recognizable as a set. I also, experimented with glazes quite a bit. I've found glazes I like and don't like through this set, so next time I can make a nicer set with a more favorable glaze.

My second set was designed for milk and cookies. I've seen this design before, but I liked it and wanted to try making it myself. Each cup is made of two parts as the first set was. The top part was a simple bowl-like shape which would contain the milk. The bottom was a short cylinder with part of the wall cut out which created a compartment for cookies. I decided not to add handles to these, but in retrospect, I would add handles if I made this again. I was able to make this set more identical this time around :D. Glaze experiments were conducted on these too.

Vessels Warm Up Project: Slip Techiques 2013

For my vessels class, we were given an assignment that involved using different slip techniques for surface design. Our goal was to make 8 cylinders that were at least 8 inches tall and use various slip techniques including, sgraffito, mishima, paper stencils, and brushed application.

I wasn't very good at throwing, so I knew I had to practice a lot to achieve 8 inches. I ended up throwing about 16 cylindrical forms. After I was able to reach the height requirement, I tried using porcelain for the first time and threw 4 cylinders.

Giraffe cup. I used paper stencils and brushed layers of white slip.

Bird Vase. I used paper stencils and brushed on black and white slip. 

 

Western Vase. Paper stencils with white and olive slip.

Olive Owls. I brushed on olive slip and used sgraffito to create owl designs.

Fairy Vase. I brushed on olive slip and used sgraffito again to make a fairy design.

Lined Cup. Mishima with black slip.

Moon Star Cup. Mishima with black slip.

 

I forgot to take a picture of my last cylinder, but it was a vase-like form with thick strokes of black slip that gave it a feathered or scaly texture.