I made these little guys in summer 2019. They are 3-4″ tall. I was experimenting with animal forms. It’s an ongoing exploration.
Here is one fellow:
Another one: (who was left at Bryn Mawr College as an art drop-off)
and this one.
I think I have an orange one, too, but I don’t seem to have a photo. Maybe later on.
Recently I made some animal figurines incorporating the circle shape.
To make them, I cut a circle shape in the clay and then cut that in half. I then joined the half-circles along the curved edge, added a bottom, legs, and a head. Next thing you know, clay animals. They look like this:
The largest animal’s body is made from about a six inch diameter circle. The clay is quite stiff and held up well to the process. I decided not to put my usual colorful decoration on these creatures as I liked the simplicity of their black and orange scheme.
Made in July 2019, terracotta clay, fired at cone 06, colored with Velvet underglazes. Here are some more photos showing leg styles – I made some with tubular legs and others are formed from slabs.
Everyone says hello!
Some more medium cylinder people from June 2019. They are made with low-fire white clay fired at cone 06 and colored with Velvet underglazes.
A close-up portrait:
and a couple of back views.
Here are some medium cylinder people – about 5″ tall or so. I made them in June 2019.
Terracotta clay, fired at cone 06, colored with Velvet underglazes.
Excuse the title, but that what we call them. Because they are pots, and because they are heads.
More potheads. These are medium-sized, smaller than the large ones and a lot bigger than the baby potheads. They fit right in. Here is the whole group.
Made in August 2019, low-fire clay, fired at cone 06, Velvet underglaze for the black wash look and Amaco Teacher’s Palette glazes for the interiors.
And for individual shots. One: (Please excuse the yellowy cast to the portrait view – the other one is more the correct color for the clay)
Two: (I turned this one a little so you could get a better look at the eyes)
Three: (I realize the interior glaze is actually a Duncan color rather than being from the Amaco line I referenced earlier)
All right. That’s the pothead universe up to now. Here’s a portrait of Large and Medium together.
Excuse the title, but that what we call them. Because they are pots, and because they are heads.
Now I’ll show you the baby versions of this category. They are about 2″ tall or so, and about the same in width. I used white low-fire or terracotta clay and colored their exteriors with Velvet underglaze Jet Black in a wash-off technique.
The interiors are done with Amaco Teacher’s Palette glazes – this makes them able to hold water, if anyone wanted to fill them with it. They were fired at cone 06. I made these in June 2019, as I did with the large potheads.
And, unlike the large potheads, I decorated the back sides of these little pots with various colors, using Velvet underglazes.
Previous pothead post – look here.
Excuse the title, but that what we call them. Because they are pots, and because they are heads.
Here are two more large potheads. Both are fired at cone 06, using Velvet underglazes color Jet Black on the exterior in a wash-off technique, and Amaco Teacher’s Palette glazes for the interiors. Both are about 8-9″ inches tall. Made in June 2019.
This one is done in terracotta clay.
You can see I glazed the interior in the green color – it looks like this (like this photo from the previous post):
And here is the one done in white clay:
Its interior is done in the blue glaze (like this photo from the previous post):
You may notice I have made the faces so that they are full of asymmetry – even the eyes don’t match. I used a variety of shapes to get this effect, making sure there was sufficient changes in lines and textures for the underglaze to show them well. I thought this would give the faces more interest and expression.
Previous pothead post – look here.
