Lidded Slab Containers

My Lidded Slab Container

The background and shaping process: To the left are a couple pictures of my lidded slab container. Unlike most of my ceramic works, I would say that this pot happened to evolve each class as I learnt new techniques. At first, when I had just begun, I didn't really know what I wanted for my container, all I knew was that I wanted it to be original. And so I went along with it. I first started off this process with rolling out a piece of clay on the slab roller and then, fortunately or unfortunately, my slab turned out to be quite big, which is part of the reason why my container is large in size. After attaching a top, bottom, and finishing the sculpting of my container, I was a little lost. I didn't know what direction to go in for my stamps. One idea that I had was to use fish stamps and go with an ocean theme while another idea was to use the bamboo stamp and cover the whole pot with it, but all of these ideas had already been used, so I decided to go in a different direction and use circular stamps. These cone like figures were very interesting to me, and so using the biggest one I could, I created two circles along the middle of my container and imprinted wing like designs onto the sides of the circles. To help the designs stand out more, I used a carving tool and went over the textures as I increased them in depth. After doing this and to create a border along my pot, I used the back of a slip brush to poke holes along the top and bottom of my container. Once I was done creating the body of my lidded slab container, I decided to use extruded parts to construct my lid. Since I had used the extruder once before, I was pretty excited to have another go at it and now I was feeling pretty confident to play around and use it to its full extent. This time around, I extruded a couple pieces of clay. The first one I extruded was a sharp, square like piece while the second one was a thick, circular piece. Using these two types of extruded parts, I created an arch over the lid of the container, with two square and two circular pieces all connecting at a small ball of clay with lots of slip and scoring. And lastly, once my clay had hardened a little and everything was properly intact, I used a needle to cut out my lid which I made sure included multiple locking devices. After cutting my lid, slipping and scoring, and lots of shaping, I was done with this part of making my pot and it was ready to go into the kiln.


The glazing process: Once my pot came out of the kiln and it was ready to be glazed, I was sure that I wanted to use the solid, intriguing, and interesting high fire glazes. Though I knew what kind of a glaze I wanted to use, I wasn't really sure where to start. The class before, we had learnt about inlaid glazing and I was sure that I wanted to try that. So I dunked my pot and lid into blue root teal and started to inlay glaze. To do this, I had to get a damp sponge and start rubbing the glaze into the textures and creases of the pot, while still removing the layer of glaze accumulated on the not textured surface of the pot. After about fifteen minutes of this inlay glazing and after the glaze dried up a little, I wanted to add in another color to the mix, and so I dunked my whole pot and lid- inside and outside, into the smokey merlot glaze. Repeating the same process, I rubbed the smokey merlot glaze into the circular and wing like textures of my container and once it was dry, I dunked only the bottom of the pot into the Celadon glaze. The reason I only dunked the bottom of my container and not the whole thing, was because I wanted a contrast in colors. After all of this glazing was done, I put my pot and lid into the kiln, and hoped for the best possible outcome.

A Fuller View of My Container

The final product and my reaction: Overall, I'm happy with my lidded slab container and I really like how it came out to be. At first, I was a little worried that maybe my pot would've been to big and something would've happened to it, but I actually think that it's size helps it to stand out and it what makes it special. I also thought that I wouldn't have enough designs and textures to truly cover up the lots of space in my pot, but I like that not everything is so crowded and cluttered with hundred of designs and stamps. Lastly, I was a little worried that the glazes I chose wouldn't turn out that well together, but I like the contrast in colors and how the glazes work together to complement each other. I think that I've gained a lot from this experience as it was my first time using the technique of inlaid glazing and now that I've used it once, I will definitely want to use it again in my future ceramic forms. I also am very happy that I've got to experiment and handle the stamps that so well contributed to my piece, and I can't wait to use them again in another one of my pots. Without the great new techniques and tricks, I learnt in class throughout this process, I don't think I would've been able to produced a lidded slab container like the one I did, and I'm excited to make some more pieces similar to this!

Designer Cup Blog

My first idea for my designer cups were chip and dale cups with tops as plates to keep your cookies in. However, now that I've browsed around and looked through lots of photos, I've come up with the idea of a set of ocean themed mugs. I would like these two cups to be very similar in shape, size, and design, but different in color, because that is what will make them stand out. The colors that I think would best represent these pots and my idea are dark blue and red. I want to keep my colors simple and solid, so that the design and ideas can really come popping through. Also, if you look at a lot of children's cups the designs are very solid, clean, and sharp, so that is what I would like my mugs to be like. Some symbols or cut out pieces of clay that I would stick onto my mugs would be starfish, crabs, and anchors, which, again, go along with that ocean and tropics theme I wanted. To really show a clear idea of what I want my mugs to look like, I've included two photos of mugs that I aspire to produce. The photo of blue and red striped mugs are what I want my design to look like. However, the solid black mugs are what I want the shape of my mugs to be like. Combining these two pictures and types of mugs together I hope to get a design that ikea and I will both be proud of!

Pinch Pots COMPLETED

Before:
Below is a picture of my three pinch pots for this first unit in Ceramics. I wanted to have a record of my pots before they go into the kiln for a second time, just in case they broke or anything fell off. The pinch pot in the back is my pot with feet and it's feet consist of a coiled up piece of clay spiraled into a circle. The pot in front of my footed pinch pot, is my bellied out pot. Along with it being bellied out, I wanted to make my pot look like and beaker and that's why during glazing I will add lines and measurements to fulfil this design. My final pinch pot is organic and shaped like a tree. The top of the tree is a squared pot, and the bottom flows out into a stand covered with clay shavings resembling fallen leaves.

After:

Below are pictures of my three pinch pots for this first unit in Ceramics. Unfortunately, my footed pinch pot isn't done yet and that's why there are only two photos, however, it will be done soon and I'll update my blog post when it's done! Along with my pictures I'm just going to tell you a little bit about my vision for each pot, the techniques I used, and the glazing process each piece went under.

Bellied out pinch pot-- I constructed my bellied out pinch pot in the shape of a beaker, because I like science and thought that this would be a fun little pot! In the end, I decided to raku fire this pot, because of it's unique shape and I wanted it to get that look shiny and luminous feel that raku fired pots give off. While glazing this pot, I went all out. I first painted on multiple layers of lustrous copper, then a splattering of tarnished silver, copper patina, red speckle, and a blue raku fire glaze, and lastly, I painted on white coat at the top which really stood out in the end . Overall, I'm very happy with my pot and I like the contrast between the white and mix of different colors on the pot. 

Organic pinch pot-- My organic pinch pot is constructed of a square pot and a footing covered in clay shavings, that represent leaves. I only came up with the idea of a tree when I was done shaving the once thick sides of my square pot and realized that I had so many shavings left over and wanted to put them to good use. To glaze this pot, I decided to use high fire glazes and blend them all in while still inlaying colors into the texture of my pot. While glazing my pot, I started off with pouring on a layer of smokey merlot and then dipping the top of my pot in blue root teal, oatmeal, and celladon. I really love how this pot came out because of its unique mixture of colors and how the shavings are still visible, though everyone thought they wouldn't be.

Footed pinch pot-- My footed pinch pot is constructed of a wide circular pot that goes out at the top, has two extruded flat, rectangular parts as handles, and a coiled up piece of clay as it's foot. The reason I really like this pinch pot's footing is because it's unique and the fact that I was able to make it out of only an ordinary piece of coiled up clay. I also found it fun to experiment with the extruded parts and use a more flat and rectangular piece as a handle, compared to the common circular pieces. To glaze this pot I decided to only use low fire glazes and layer them onto a cool design. The first color I brushed on was a dusty rose from the teacher's pallet glazes. Then I layered on a speckled blue grey LJ glaze that went all around the middle of the pot. Lastly, to give the inside some color, I poured in the jewel brown LJ glaze that gave the pot a contrast in colors. Overall, and mainly glazing wise, I decided to use more bright glazes to decorate the pot as most of my other pinch pots are relatively dark. Though, this pinch pot didn't turn out to be my favorite, I still like how it's different compared to my others and now that I've experimented with low fire glazes I think that I will do better with them next time.

Blog Post #1- What is Beauty

CERAMICS 1- 2015 1ST SEMESTER

BLOG POST # 1- WHAT IS BEAUTY?

Ceramics Monthly May issue, 2009- p16
Article: Tulip Vases from the Twelve Designers ("Tulipa Vase") by Lotte van Laatum

As an artist and designer part of this exhibition, Lotte van Laatum specializes in the social-cultural and ecological aspects of design. Around 1600, Dutch diplomats brought the tulip, which has its origin in Central-Asia, from Turkey to the Netherlands. Since the tulip was very popular in Turkey as a symbol for life and fertility, it was therefore commonly used in textile patterns for the kaftans of the Sultans and as a pattern in different ceramic objects. After the tulip was introduced in The Netherlands, it became an extremely popular and favored flower, however, this tulip fever collapsed in 1637, leaving many people bankrupt. Today, the tulip is still the symbol of the The Netherlands and the vases in this collection are an expression of shared identity.

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Tulipa Vase, 14 in. (35cm) in height, earthenware, 2008-2009

Why these are Beautiful

I love both functional pottery and pottery used as a piece of decoration to enhance a setting. I appreciate the beauty of things that are usable in everyday life and the things that I can aesthetically admire. The reason I chose to write about this piece of pottery is because I love it's vibrant colors, design, and unique shape. I love that every time I look at this piece of pottery I see something new and beautiful in the very fine and intricate details. This piece of pottery, though not as functional as a dinner plate, can enhance a table or room, and bring some energy to the atmosphere. With this breathtaking piece of pottery, a mediocre table or a plain room can be easily enriched. Each part of this vase though organic and special, still is symmetric and clean. The vibrant use of colors and patterns is captivating enough to keep me wondering what the artist, Lotte van Laatum, was thinking when crafting this wonderful piece of art. This pottery will inspire buoyant conversations around the room, at a table, and will most definitely inspire me to try using similar designs, patters, colors, or shapes in my ceramic works.

Math 8+ End of Year Reflection

During the duration of this year, I've learnt so much in math, grown in many ways, and feel fully prepared for next year!

However, before this year, I had struggled with linear equations and their applied problems. I struggled with analyzing and putting together the pieces needed to come up with an equation or answer for the problem, because I didn't know what to look for or what information I could use. Being only introduced last year, I didn't yet how to properly and efficiently graph linear equations using the constant rate of change very well. However, during my our time spent on linear, inverse, exponential equations and Parabolas, my understanding of graphing and equations has grown so much. In fact, I can state- with full confidence- that I now understand how to manipulate and use parts of an equation, graph, or even word problem to my advantage when solving a problem. 

For the most part, as I grow older and move up in grades, in math class, we usually just build off our learning of math from Intermediate school and don't learn much new material. During 7th grade, if you were to have asked me about quadratic equations, factoring, the second way to writing a linear equation, or inequalities, my answer would be a straight up no. However, this year I've learnt so many new and unknown to me before, things in math. And with these new things did come challenges. Sometimes I sat there in math class super lost and confused, but after working harder and using my background knowledge on math I was able to put the pieces together, and answer my own question. 

With a lot of success in my learning this year, I still feel that I could grow to be stronger in a couple areas. Though I've improved so much compared to last year, I still think that I could improve on my ability to answer applied problems. I now know all about linear, inverse, and quadratic applied problems. However, one type of word problem I would like to strength my skills in is exponential applied problems. I understand and am pretty good at exponential applied problems in which there is exponential growth, but when it comes to exponential decay, I need to work on that a little. So my goal for this summer and next year is too be confident in my ability to solve exponential applied problems including exponential decay. I also need to take make sure that next year with the many tests that come, to read math problems thoroughly, before I answer them, and to look over my work in a more detailed way, before I hand in my test. Overall, I've really enjoyed math this year and can't believe how much I've learnt in such a short period of time. 

Independent Writing Project

For my independent writing project, Mackenzie and I created a video including poems and videos that educated viewers on our lives as twins. I'm the older twin and Mackenzie is the younger twin, so we thought that it would be cool to create a video with both our twins and all the other twins in eighth grade. As part of our project, we shared our experiences as twins in poetry form and also played videos and photos simultaneously. As a goal set at the very beginning of our independent writing project, we wanted to make sure to make this video informational and yet, sill funny. To make this happen, we included poems covering topics like: the competition between twins, the difference in each pair of twins' grades, and the different in each pair of twins' personalities. I hope you like it!

Social Studies Letter to the United Nations

Dear the United Nations,

We are two concerned and curious eighth grade students from the Singapore American School. This year in Social Studies we focused on everyday people and the role they play in this world, as part of the human race. Through our many studies and multiple guest speakers, we were introduced to the different points of view in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Patrick Daly, director of the movie David, was also able to share with us his opinion on the issue based off of his experiences in Israel. Through all this, what stuck with us most was the Palestinian Refugees problem. We wonder, why, even with it’s own organization working to fix it, is this problem not yet solved? Why, 40 years later, are the refugee camps growing instead of shrinking in size?

As one out of the 762,228 refugees in Syria, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) promised Sameetha a proper education for her children and food, water, and medical facilities for her family, but instead what did she get? She now lives in a crumbling makeshift city in Syria and has accepted the fact that she and her children will be stuck in this refugee poverty cycle for life. There are thousands of cries for help from Palestinian refugees who need a home, but is anyone really listening?

The UNRWA’s counterpart, The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has instead, during the 21st century, been able to find tens of millions of durable solutions for refugees around the world. We firmly believe that the UNRWA should adopt UNHCR’s principles. The UNRWA should be proactive in getting its refugee’s- if wanted- a citizenship for other countries. The UNRWA should make sure that the label of a “refugee” is not transferable throughout generations, as it is now. If the UNRWA does not adopt these principles, the amount of Palestinian refugees in the world will continue to grow, rapidly. Following these guidelines, there will also be a better chance for refugees, like Sameetha, to get out of the poverty cycle and live a stable life.

Beyond the fact that the UNRWA needs to become more proactive in this issue, the UNRWA also needs to be using its resources more wisely. The UN spends three times the amount money in funding the UNRWA compared to the UNHCR, and it also has 30 times the employee's. Although the UNRWA’s intentions were originally good, they have not been able to produce enough durable settlement solutions for these millions of Palestinian Refugees. With all the money given to the UNRWA from the UN, the UNRWA should be ahead of the UNHCR in solving this issue of refugees. However, on the contrary, it seems that the UNRWA is not using its resources to its’ greatest potential and has not been able to produce sagacious enough solutions.

We understand this refugee predicament is not as simple as it may look, but at the end of the day, all Palestinians just want to go back to their homes in Israel. They might refuse the thought of settling with a citizenship to any other country, however, during this conflict in the Middle East, a whole new generation of refugees have been born. A whole new generation who only know the life of a barely education, dehydrated, and unfed refugee that has never even been to Israel. the UNRWA should begin to find new places for these people to live, since it is clear they won’t be able to return to Israel within the foreseeable future. UNRWA should put its money and funding towards helping families who want a citizenship and are willing to rebuild their lives in a safer and more stable country somewhere else. They could help a family start a new life in, say, Australia. With opportunities like this, many Palestinian Refugees will likely jump on the bandwagon and slowly start to rebuild their lives in a secure, risk free, and more developed community.

If, even after that, refugees are still adamant against becoming a citizen to other countries, the UNRWA should put their fundings towards improving its refugee camps. Right now, refugees are living in worn out, unsafe, and dilapidated communities with little access to basic education and healthcare facilities. According to the UNRWA’s website, 479,519 refugees are currently given a basic education, 344,493 refugees have been granted a loan, and 3.1 million refugees have access to basic healthcare. However, this is nothing compared to the noted 6.5 million Palestinian Refugees in the world right now, keeping in mind that one in three worldwide refugees is Palestinian. At the moment, it seems to be as if the UNRWA is trying to keep these refugees as refugees in the poverty cycle for generations and generations to come. Yet, with so many Palestinian Refugees in this world right now, the UNRWA needs to use its money more sensibly and cautiously.

The UNRWA should not just believe in protecting Palestinians Refugees’ rights as refugees, but also their rights as human beings. By changing the UNRWA’s principles and by spending its funds more wisely, the refugee problem which has remained unsolved for forty years can finally have a solution. Everyone deserves a home, whether its in Israel, Palestine, or anywhere else. The United Nations, the UNRWA has the potential to give millions of people a home, they just need to realize that promise. We sincerely hope you consider our suggestions.

From concerned students,

Anya Devgan and Riley Britson

Annotated Bibliography:

1.

During the 30 minutes, after his speech in the auditorium, Patrick Daly, helped Riley and I to find our voices on this issue and what kind of a change we wanted to see for the Palestinian Refugees in the near future.

2.

"What We Do UNRWA." UNRWA. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.unrwa.org/what-we-do

This website was found on the SAS Library database and we knew we could trust it as it is the official website for the UNRWA. After reading about what an amazing organization the UNHCR is, this website helped to put things into perspective. We also used most of the statistics from the website in our piece as evidence and proof of the UNRWA’s work and achievements. This site also helped us to notice that the UNRWA is not necessarily a “bad” organization, it has helped a lot of people and to help the rest it just needs some guiding into the right direction. It also gave us a view on what kind of an organization the UNRWA sees itself as and its accomplishments that they are truly proud of.

3.

"UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2013: Chapter 6 - Demographic and Location Data." UNHCR News. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.unhcr.org/54cf9a8f9.html

This website was accessed from the SAS Library Website’s database. This website was very helpful in the way that it gave us a very detailed insight into what the UNHCR is like as an organization compared to the UNRWA. We also really appreciate finding this website as it- through tons of graphs, tables, and stories- was able to give us a varied amount of information on refugees from around the world. This assisted us in realising that there are so many solutions possible to help the millions of Palestinian Refugees that are suffering. It also aided in realising that with the right principles and outlook on the problem, it’s possible for an organization like the UNRWA to reach and touch so many struggling refugees’ lives, which connected to part of our final solution.

4.

"Life in a Palestinian Refugee Camp." Life in a Palestinian Refugee Camp. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/ref-halsell.html

This article, found from the SAS Library Website’s database, was where we discovered the story of Sameetha and her family. After learning about all the facts and statistics involved in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, it was interesting and very helpful to read about someone’s real life experiences as a Palestinian Refugee. This article included daily testimonials in what life as a regular, impoverished, Palestinian Refugee was like and how hard they had it. It also helped us to understand that through all the politics, numbers, and money, there is a real, growing, and hurting problem affecting millions of people. It doesn’t matter how old or how young, these millions of Palestinian Refugees are hurting and just barely scraping by, stuck in a never ending poverty cycle for generations to come.

5.

"Syria On Track To Become World's Largest Source Of Refugees." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/02/28/283991476/syria-on-track-to-become-worlds-largest-source-of-refugees

Being one of the very first we looked at, we accessed this article from the SAS Library Website’s database. Though there was a four minute long voice recording on the life of a Palestinian refugee in Syria, just looking at the picture at the beginning of the article, really put things into perspective. Since the article had a lot of facts and statistics, we decided to integrate it into our piece, helping to make our argument more powerful. This article also helped us to understand that though some people might not acknowledge this issue of Palestinian refugees as not big a problem as ISIS, there are still so many of these refugees living in crumbling and horrifically scaring settlements, that we should be ashamed.

6.

"Palestine-Israel Journal: The Palestinian Refugee Problem: A Possible Solution." Palestine-Israel Journal: The Palestinian Refugee Problem: A Possible Solution. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=601

This article is similar to the one written above as a solution-based argument to the United Nations. So, we decided to use this piece as a kind of mentor text which gave us lots of important background information and examples of solutions. Originally, we had a lot of trouble figuring out what our solution to the very complex and tricky Palestinian Refugees conflict should be, we really appreciated finding this article. From reading about the proposed solutions and ways people have been trying to help, we began to change our solutions a bit, growing them to become, at the end of the day, plausible and reasonable resolutions.

7.

"The Most Practical Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." The Most Practical Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.factsandlogic.org/ad_135.html

This site really went in depth about the conflict and we were able to learn a lot from it. Similar to our’s, it talked all about the problem of UNRWA as an organization set aside only for Palestinian Refugees, and how it isn’t really solving any problems, circling back to that idea of unrealized promise. Being another exemplar that we looked up to, it had points similar to the ones we wanted to make in our letter to the United Nations, so we built off some of the ideas presented in this article.   

8.

"UN Photo Archive Tells Story of Palestinian Refugees." The Times of Israel. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/un-photo-archive-tells-story-of-palestinian-refugees/

We mostly used this website for its statistics and eye-opening photos. It is really amazing to see, through the lense of a camera and presented as a photo, the kind of life and horror millions of Palestinian refugees face in their day to day lives. This website really put everything into perspective, because when we scrolled down and read further into the article, we realized that it was so much more effective and powerful to instead of reading about it, actually see it. Compared to the still very important statistics, being able to actually see these photos, helped us to see the full picture.