Jewelry I finished up the scrollwork earrings project-keep your eye on the student work board. Results are filtering in as the due date for the project-Thursday 2/25-approaches. Here's a some student samples:
Jewelry I students are now moving from bending and hand finishing into rings. We've learned how to create a jewelry drawings, measure fingers, prepare a ring for soldering, and now, I'm watching students through use of the acetylene torches as they begin soldering. Students are practicing seeing the 'colors of heat' and noticing balling, puddling, and running stages of solder melt. Our next steps are cleaning up joints, and learning how to use the power equipment to finish the rings.
Ceramics I students Udu Drums are well on their way. Students have crossed the widest part of their drum, and are now learning how to bring their ball, egg, and oval shapes in to close the forms for large shaping. Each student designed a unique drum which they drew on paper. Last week, we used the width and height of the drawing's drum 'belly', and the width of the actual pot's 'belly' to calculate the correct height for the finished pot drum belly. The next steps will be adjusting the bellies to match the drawing based on what we learn from looking and measuring by the use of v-cuts, paddling and sureforming. |
Ceramics II students cranked on finishing cups last week. This week will bring a close to the '10 Cups' Project construction phase. In this unit, students became proficient with centering, opening, pulling, hand trimming and finishing pots, and developed skills in compressing floors and rims, shaping, wheel trimming, carving and pulling handles. Students will use this large family of cups to test glazes and application techniques once their cups are bisque fired. This was an exciting time, as many students were a little unsure of the wheel at the start of the project. Now, students work on the wheel with confidence, and have begun developing both the muscle memory and the experienced eye that tells them what the clay needs, and when.