This post is the fourth about my ceramics class. See the earlier posts here:

1. Ceramics
2. First Ceramics Creations
3. Ceramics class is going well

What a long day! I am so exhausted I am about falling over. I finally took my camera to ceramics class so I have pictures to share! Then off to bed for me.

Really good day! The talk at Tafe this morning went really well. I got a really dry mouth talking for a whole hour, really appreciated that the lecturer had provided a bottle of water. I’m running pretty short of sleep, I was up late the night before putting the power point together. Entirely self-inflicted! I’ve been booked to paint faces at a party coming up, so I’ve got all excited and enthused about updating my painting kit and spent most of yesterday watching youtube  videos of gorgeous new designs, how other face painters set up their gear, and reviews of professional quality face paints. I’m going to be transitioning from my current paint, which are liquid in bottles, to a new brand which is a little more expensive but comes in cakes you activate with water. The major advantage of this type is that they cope better in hot weather and last longer between uses without drying out. Plus, they offer rainbow striped cakes which I’m very excited about!

This afternoon I went off to see a new psychologist today and I am very excited! I felt really comfortable with her and I’m optimistic that we will work well together. Happy dances!

This evening was my last ceramics studio class – next week everything has to be finished so we can present it. My “Dreamer” head has been fired and looks great!

He’s painted in a tribal style, kind of a mix of Aztec and American Indian inspired. I wanted him to have a shaman kind of feel to him.

I also made a pencil holder, partly to practice working with a slab – this is where you roll out the clay and then shape it, and partly to practice my slip technique. (It’s a very unwise idea to trial a new technique on your final project!)

Today I just had to make all the dreams that would rattle around in the head. The design over all is inspired by my first creation of a pomegranate. I decided to try another ceramics technique that has intrigued me – making stamps out of clay to create impressions in other clay. I decided to make a collection of small round balls, about the size of a truffle, and indent dream symbols into them, then decorate them with blue slip lines and dots so they would complete the face paint. Here is one of the little clay stamps, a fish:

Here are the little balls with the stamps indented, they’ve also been textured by rolling them in aida cloth:

And here they are being painted up. The red bulb is full of blue slip (liquid clay) that you squeeze very gently to dot or trail lines, kind of like decorating cakes with piped icing. On the right side is my collection of stamps.

They look a little more like truffles than I had in mind! I expect that wont be so pronounced once they’ve been fired and the colours change to orange and powdery blue. 🙂 I got the last one finished on the dot of 8.30pm which was fortunate. They’ll be fired this week and I’ll be assembling and presenting everything next week. Very happy with my work, I’ve really enjoyed working with clay.

See my final ceramics post here.