At midnight last night I found myself in the sculpture building hallway, waiting for a ride home, wondering how I was still there with my final ceramics critique twelve hours behind me. All that time spent in this building, here is my final project. My professor, Michaelene Walsh helped a lot through out this process.
First, I wrapped dried vines, straw, moss,leaves and paper into nests and dipped them in clay slip. I let them dry a bit on bowl-shaped plaster molds. I dipped them three or four times, then let them dry. I sprayed them lightly with glaze and loaded them into the bisque kiln. As we closed the door, Corrie asked me how the ashes of the vines would burn out without exploding. I had minor panic attacks for the next few days until the door was opened again and they survived.
I spray glazed them and loaded them onto kiln shelves covered with silica sand. Again, a ceramics major asked why they would not stick to the shelves. Again, I trusted my professor because I did not know for sure that they wouldn't. They didn't. All but one survived the glaze kiln. I spent a nervous hour on a ladder hanging all the nests, eggs, and eating doughnuts. I am glad the semester is over.
