Discovered Ikuko Iwamoto's ceramic works

Today I was looking up different ceramicist and i stumbled upon Ikuko Iwamotos's works. I found them very fascinating and in fact they really remind me of my object, the spider crab shell.
She makes sculptural as well as functional works. They are all so nice, bumpy, spiky and just so incredibly interesting.
For those who are interested here is her website: www.ikukoi.co.uk 
                                         
 Few of her works:

                                                                   White thorn beakers

                                                           

                                                                        Spiky beakers
Simply Amazing :)

Progressing with the Project No.1 "Starting to experiment with clay"

 Now that I had enough 3D Works done, I could start working with clay. Looking back on my best 3D works i had to explore same ideas by using clay.

For this little experiments I looked at the structure of my branch 3D. I used earthenware clay and rolled little sausage like shapes,then waited till they dried to shape them like little branches.To join them I scored and slipped them together.

  

 Here I used porcelain. I looked at the rolled and dry leaf structure in this experiment. I used porcelain because it expresses the fragility very well. When leafs dried they are very fragile and it is visible. Also it was fired to a very high temperature so when it came out of the kiln it was not porous at all, which is obvious by looking at it.    

 Again using porcelain but this time it was fired at a lower temperature so it is still porous. The idea of this experiment is taken from both my leaf 3D structure and paper straw one.

 Here I used earthenware clay. I made tube like shapes by hand and joined them together by scoring and slipping. This work might not look like it but I made it functional. I just really wanted to make something functional. It is sort of a vase. For the structure I looked at the branch and paper straw 3D sculptures.

Continuing with the project and making 3D objects.

 I was happy with my second branch idea and its structure, so I started working in that way but by using other materials.

                                       Here I used paper straws and a string to tie them together

                      It took so much time making that one,but I was very happy with the outcome.
           

There were few other experiments I made. One of them is similar to above idea and other ones are just experimentations.

Here they are:

                                                                Rolled and dried leafs

                                                      Tinfoil cones tied together with wire

                                                    Some dried flower's bud tied with thread.

                                                         Dried leaf stems stuck together.

                              Sort of an impression of the object. broken and shaped kebab sticks.

Project No.1: "Next Stage; 2D observation and making 3D objects"

Once the object was chosen, the task was to observe it well and experiment. First of all I did different sketches and observations to get more familiar with the object.
Afterwards by using different materials I had to make several 3D works of my chosen objects.

Here they are:

                                                                                                   The first 3D that I made.

                                           I collected a lot of branches and sharpened them.Then i
                                                       joined them together with a wire.


After the critique I was advised to redo the 3D by using the same material and idea but joining branches in a different way. I decided to shape it in a way so the object made would reflect the same sharp and pointy look of the original crab shell.

                                            I tried to keep the shape and express the sharpness.

Project No.1: " Choosing the Object"

At the beginning of the year we were given a project where we were required to choose an object and work from it for some time.
Before choosing and starting the work it was important to considere couple of objects. After studying and observing their qualities and brainstorming them I had to chose one which was the most interesting and exciting.
It was not as easy task as you would think because not any random object could do. I had to keep in mind that I would have to work with that chosen item for quite some time, so it was important to choose something that would not be boring and would be visually rich.    
For me it is usually very hard to make a choice. I take a lot of time making a best decision. After two days of walking around my house, parks, shops and observing things I eventually decided to pick a spider crab shell that I found in my house, as the object for this project.

                                           
                                                                Spider Crab Shell
There were number of reasons I chose it.
First of all it was visually new to my eye. Something undiscovered about it really interested me. I really like sea creatures and observing their body and shell structures. I found this object very appealing. From the first look the structure looks very fragile but if you touch it and examine it is very strong.

Its texture is what I liked the most. It is very sharp and pointy, designed for protection. I found it particularly interesting and it was the point of my concentration. It is also very interesting in shape. It has a different look depending which way to look at it....

                                                                  View from the bottom