Ceramics: Slab work and texture.

 In ceramics, we did slab work as part of our skills building phase. First I chose a square outside, to use to inspire my composition. I chose a part with leaves and the edge of a wall, so I thought this would have lots of different textures to experiment with and I really liked the contrast between the curved lines of the leaves and the straight sharp lines of the bricks.







I used rubbings and photocopies to create a collage, and drew a rectangle on top, to show which part I was going to portray on my clay slab.

I have tried to make sure some of the lines were going diagonally to the edges of my rectangle, to make it more interesting.

 To put texture onto my clay, I pressed it into a part of the wall that had ridges across, to try to get a similar texture to my rubbings.











I also used leaves, and rolled them into the clay to create very delicate imprints of the veins and outline.

 I made a leaf imprint on a separate, quite thin piece of clay, and positioned it on top of a smaller piece, to make it more 3D. I curved up the edges slightly to make it look more like a real leaf that had just fallen off the tree.

 My finished piece, just before it went into the kiln. I decided to cut the edges straight to contrast to the natural organic shapes of the leaves and texture pieces.

I also used some white slip to colour some parts, and I hope to add more colour or a glaze once it has been fired for the first time.