- Joined
- Apr 5, 2012
This post is a conclusion of my ceramic works after first 4 months of experience, I'll be making more, but not after 3 months of summer break. You can see some more at my deviantart page. http://dekunukem.deviantart.com/gallery/
I knew absolutely nothing about ceramics until I had access to a ceramic workshop nearby, so I thought it would be a good idea to make something special and personal myself, also spend some time learning something completely new.
This is what I came up with in this relatively short period of time. I started a thread here but was too lazy to update it daily after some time, and I posted most of my work on the deviantart.
The Kokiri Pan Flute. Glossy emerald green glaze over white slip with red glaze on the symbol. The emerald green glaze is a bit thin so you can see the white slip beneath it, which is quite nice. It plays three notes, F, A and B, the first three notes of saria's song, also the theme of lost woods. And if you play it backwards, you'll hear song of healing. I tuned it with wax.
The Wind Fish Egg Xun
Xun is an very interesting musical instrument originated from ancient china, it's basically an ocarina without the mouth piece. In an ocarina you blow through the mouthpiece and it sends the air into the voicing edge where it vibrates and make sound. In this you do it with your lip. The rest is complete the same as ocarina and xun are both Helmholtz resonators and the pitch of the sound depend entirely on the surface area of opened holes, and no overblowing. This one was thrown on a wheel.
Since there's no mouth piece, it's a little harder to play than an ocarina, but if you know how to play flute there would be no problem. It produces a rich, dark and deep sound. It has 8 holes, 6 in the front and 2 in the back. White majolica with deep pinkish underglaze.
Master Sword flute #1, glaze test.
I made 2 flutes, this first, rather crappy one is used by me to test glazes, which turned out pretty well. The deep blue glaze is really nice and the yellow underglaze is working well. If I remember correctly this one is in D sharp major.
A red rupee!
I found a top secret low-fire red glaze in the back room and the test turned out to be pretty good, so it went on my rupee. I love its smooth, deep, intense, flowing red, and it fits well on the piece.
Zelda's bracelet #1
Zelda's bracelet from Skyward Sword, obviously this one is not how it looks in the game. I found a commercial glaze at least 20 years old called the "smoky sliver", which gives this shiny deep metallic sliver coat. I made two Zelda's Bracelets and this first one is rather crap so I applied that glaze on it just to see how it looks. Turned out to be pretty cool if you ignore all the rough finishes and sharp edges, but it's better than nothing. And also, I ruined the second better one with glazing so this is the only one left, for now.
the super cute chuchu from the wind waker!
the finished piece is better than I expected. The glaze didn't run and the underglazes largely remains the color they supposed to be. There are some crawling at the foot, possibly because it was a bit thick, or because it didn't melt that well since it's not runny.
The moon from the Majora's mask. Underglaze painting on smooth icing glaze with 10% gray stain. The glaze was a bit thick so it expanded a little bit, tearing the underglaze paint away. And it rolled off the tripod into the kiln wall during firing so there are some marks near the mouth. Still, not that bad and I'm not going to try to fix it, which will only make it worse.
A zelda pot
I didn’t know how to throw on the wheels at the time so this pot was coil built. And with some blue majolica treatment it turned out to be pretty good. Glazed inside and out, this pot is fully functional(although I don't know what function it could have for me), and with simple and elegant design(I was just lazy).
The blue is (more or less) spot on with 1% cobalt carbonate and slightly less opacifier. I’m going to throw a proper one later this year.
Master Sword flute #2 and the Oot Panflute
Final result of the second MS flute I made, same pattern as the first one but with cleaner finish and more attention to detail. I also used the blue majolica instead of the other deep blue glaze so it has much smoother surface.
The panflute has the same notes as the ocarina of time so it can play all the ocarina songs from OoT and MM. I don't like to slap a triforce on everything I make so I went for the diamond shape on the master sword and fi's chest, same thing but more subtle.
Yes I know Master Sword flute has bent a little during the firing and I'm not satisfied with the result at all. I'm going to make new ones until I'm happy with the result.
And yes I do love making music instruments, it's just the right stuff to do.
Bertie's Rattle from skyward sword. I shaped it in two hours just to get something done that day after the flute I was spending whole day making broke in half just before it's finished.
The rattle works but the pebble inside was too big, so the sound is not that crisp. And since it was rushed I couldn't bring myself to glaze it properly because it will look a bit crap anyway. I finally drew the pattern of the wave and bird and tried spraying with paper stencil, and it turned out to be pretty good.
Now this is the big one, the bird panflute.
This is an idea I had a some months ago, when I was reading about ancient panflutes. Normally having a row of pipes tuned to different notes is enough, but some of them are of a unique symmetrical shape that resembles a bird's outstretched wings, and they were used in the religious ceremonies of the time as symbol of the phoenix, all that stuff. Having played the SS, first thing I thought was link's red loft wing, or just the the bird symbol, with that it would fit perfectly into the "ancient sacred musical instrument" thing in the series, expect maybe it's a bit too large, but it will surely disappear into link's pouch of infinity.
There are 29 pipes, and since it's symmetric there are 15 notes on each side, a little more than two octaves. I made all the pipe a little bit longer than they need to be so it can be tuned with wax after shrinking during the drying and firing. It's untuned for now and since it's symmetric I'm thinking maybe I can tune it to two different keys at two sides so it won't be completely pointless. Who knows, I don't have much time left so I'll do that after the summer break.
I used the commercial satin black glaze, which gives the smooth matte finish, and the runny top secret deep red glaze that I used on the red rupee, some of them ran off the symbol but no big deal.
For my first ever four months of ceramics, I think this is my masterpiece. Of course that's not saying much, and there's still a lot to learn and improve, but that's what keeps me going.
And this is it, the end of my first ever four months of working with ceramics.
I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to do it in the first place and it was a truly fascinating and rewarding experience transforming a ball of red clay into whatever I want, and seeing it bathed in fire of 2000 degrees and melted glass. The process is actually harder than most of the people think. Clay will shrink and warp during the drying and firing and it will crack should there be any inconsistencies. And since no organic matter can survive that kind of temperature, glazing is far from painting with whatever color you like. Colors come from certain kind of metals and are formed from the chemical reaction, and a lot of experiments are required to see the outcome, as you can see in the picture below the two towers of paper cups. But if you get it right, it will literally last forever, just like those ancient pots and jars that have been buried underground for thousands of years. This is something so special that I love about ceramics.
Of course almost all of them still have a lot of room to improve upon, and that’s what I’m aiming for in the second half of this year after the summer break. They are far from perfect and far from what I expected them to be. Four months is a good intro, but it's just a start.
You can see on the final picture that there are pieces that I didn’t mention in this article, and actually some of them didn’t made it to the picture at all. The heart piece in the skyward sword exploded in the kiln, the bomb flower was ruined by underglaze, the treasure chest was a nightmare and I smashed with a hammer, the little sculpture of a melting koholint island looked absolutely crap, and I didn't bother to finish the majora's mask. But this is all part of the experience. The point I want to make after all these is that if you want something that is unique, special, and personal, make it yourself. It won’t be much good during the first few attempts. But if you keep going, the reward is more satisfying than anything you can buy with money. So put yourself in and just make it.
I knew absolutely nothing about ceramics until I had access to a ceramic workshop nearby, so I thought it would be a good idea to make something special and personal myself, also spend some time learning something completely new.
This is what I came up with in this relatively short period of time. I started a thread here but was too lazy to update it daily after some time, and I posted most of my work on the deviantart.
The Kokiri Pan Flute. Glossy emerald green glaze over white slip with red glaze on the symbol. The emerald green glaze is a bit thin so you can see the white slip beneath it, which is quite nice. It plays three notes, F, A and B, the first three notes of saria's song, also the theme of lost woods. And if you play it backwards, you'll hear song of healing. I tuned it with wax.
The Wind Fish Egg Xun
Xun is an very interesting musical instrument originated from ancient china, it's basically an ocarina without the mouth piece. In an ocarina you blow through the mouthpiece and it sends the air into the voicing edge where it vibrates and make sound. In this you do it with your lip. The rest is complete the same as ocarina and xun are both Helmholtz resonators and the pitch of the sound depend entirely on the surface area of opened holes, and no overblowing. This one was thrown on a wheel.
Since there's no mouth piece, it's a little harder to play than an ocarina, but if you know how to play flute there would be no problem. It produces a rich, dark and deep sound. It has 8 holes, 6 in the front and 2 in the back. White majolica with deep pinkish underglaze.
Master Sword flute #1, glaze test.
I made 2 flutes, this first, rather crappy one is used by me to test glazes, which turned out pretty well. The deep blue glaze is really nice and the yellow underglaze is working well. If I remember correctly this one is in D sharp major.
A red rupee!
I found a top secret low-fire red glaze in the back room and the test turned out to be pretty good, so it went on my rupee. I love its smooth, deep, intense, flowing red, and it fits well on the piece.
Zelda's bracelet #1
Zelda's bracelet from Skyward Sword, obviously this one is not how it looks in the game. I found a commercial glaze at least 20 years old called the "smoky sliver", which gives this shiny deep metallic sliver coat. I made two Zelda's Bracelets and this first one is rather crap so I applied that glaze on it just to see how it looks. Turned out to be pretty cool if you ignore all the rough finishes and sharp edges, but it's better than nothing. And also, I ruined the second better one with glazing so this is the only one left, for now.
the super cute chuchu from the wind waker!
the finished piece is better than I expected. The glaze didn't run and the underglazes largely remains the color they supposed to be. There are some crawling at the foot, possibly because it was a bit thick, or because it didn't melt that well since it's not runny.
The moon from the Majora's mask. Underglaze painting on smooth icing glaze with 10% gray stain. The glaze was a bit thick so it expanded a little bit, tearing the underglaze paint away. And it rolled off the tripod into the kiln wall during firing so there are some marks near the mouth. Still, not that bad and I'm not going to try to fix it, which will only make it worse.
A zelda pot
I didn’t know how to throw on the wheels at the time so this pot was coil built. And with some blue majolica treatment it turned out to be pretty good. Glazed inside and out, this pot is fully functional(although I don't know what function it could have for me), and with simple and elegant design(I was just lazy).
The blue is (more or less) spot on with 1% cobalt carbonate and slightly less opacifier. I’m going to throw a proper one later this year.
Master Sword flute #2 and the Oot Panflute
Final result of the second MS flute I made, same pattern as the first one but with cleaner finish and more attention to detail. I also used the blue majolica instead of the other deep blue glaze so it has much smoother surface.
The panflute has the same notes as the ocarina of time so it can play all the ocarina songs from OoT and MM. I don't like to slap a triforce on everything I make so I went for the diamond shape on the master sword and fi's chest, same thing but more subtle.
Yes I know Master Sword flute has bent a little during the firing and I'm not satisfied with the result at all. I'm going to make new ones until I'm happy with the result.
And yes I do love making music instruments, it's just the right stuff to do.
Bertie's Rattle from skyward sword. I shaped it in two hours just to get something done that day after the flute I was spending whole day making broke in half just before it's finished.
The rattle works but the pebble inside was too big, so the sound is not that crisp. And since it was rushed I couldn't bring myself to glaze it properly because it will look a bit crap anyway. I finally drew the pattern of the wave and bird and tried spraying with paper stencil, and it turned out to be pretty good.
Now this is the big one, the bird panflute.
This is an idea I had a some months ago, when I was reading about ancient panflutes. Normally having a row of pipes tuned to different notes is enough, but some of them are of a unique symmetrical shape that resembles a bird's outstretched wings, and they were used in the religious ceremonies of the time as symbol of the phoenix, all that stuff. Having played the SS, first thing I thought was link's red loft wing, or just the the bird symbol, with that it would fit perfectly into the "ancient sacred musical instrument" thing in the series, expect maybe it's a bit too large, but it will surely disappear into link's pouch of infinity.
There are 29 pipes, and since it's symmetric there are 15 notes on each side, a little more than two octaves. I made all the pipe a little bit longer than they need to be so it can be tuned with wax after shrinking during the drying and firing. It's untuned for now and since it's symmetric I'm thinking maybe I can tune it to two different keys at two sides so it won't be completely pointless. Who knows, I don't have much time left so I'll do that after the summer break.
I used the commercial satin black glaze, which gives the smooth matte finish, and the runny top secret deep red glaze that I used on the red rupee, some of them ran off the symbol but no big deal.
For my first ever four months of ceramics, I think this is my masterpiece. Of course that's not saying much, and there's still a lot to learn and improve, but that's what keeps me going.
And this is it, the end of my first ever four months of working with ceramics.
I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to do it in the first place and it was a truly fascinating and rewarding experience transforming a ball of red clay into whatever I want, and seeing it bathed in fire of 2000 degrees and melted glass. The process is actually harder than most of the people think. Clay will shrink and warp during the drying and firing and it will crack should there be any inconsistencies. And since no organic matter can survive that kind of temperature, glazing is far from painting with whatever color you like. Colors come from certain kind of metals and are formed from the chemical reaction, and a lot of experiments are required to see the outcome, as you can see in the picture below the two towers of paper cups. But if you get it right, it will literally last forever, just like those ancient pots and jars that have been buried underground for thousands of years. This is something so special that I love about ceramics.
Of course almost all of them still have a lot of room to improve upon, and that’s what I’m aiming for in the second half of this year after the summer break. They are far from perfect and far from what I expected them to be. Four months is a good intro, but it's just a start.
You can see on the final picture that there are pieces that I didn’t mention in this article, and actually some of them didn’t made it to the picture at all. The heart piece in the skyward sword exploded in the kiln, the bomb flower was ruined by underglaze, the treasure chest was a nightmare and I smashed with a hammer, the little sculpture of a melting koholint island looked absolutely crap, and I didn't bother to finish the majora's mask. But this is all part of the experience. The point I want to make after all these is that if you want something that is unique, special, and personal, make it yourself. It won’t be much good during the first few attempts. But if you keep going, the reward is more satisfying than anything you can buy with money. So put yourself in and just make it.
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This totally made my day.