2017 Progress Report: October-Part 2

During this week in October, I wasn't able to do too much. Four out of five if my masks were fired. I managed to apply the raku glazes, though I would have to wait another week to see the results. I also made more progress on my leaf piece. I got it to the point where I was able to finish most of the canvas work on it. The following week would bring even more progress for my work.

This may possibly be my last post of the year. We'll see, but the October Progress Reports will continue well into January. Also, even though it is a bit early to announce this, the Reports for November and December will be combined into a single report due to a lack of pictures from November.

10/10/17: This firing turned out well. 

10/10/17: The firing for this piece also turned out well.

10/10/17: This is still my least favorite mask.

10/10/17: This is still one of my favorite masks. I'm glad it survived the firing.

10/10/17: I finally finished all the chicken wire work on the front.

10/10/17: I finally finished all the chicken wire work on the back.

10/10/17: Most of the canvas work on the front is finished.

10/10/17: The canvas work on the back is almost done.

10/10/17: I applied some glaze. I used black on most of it and red around the edges.

10/10/17: This will use an almost even mix of red and black glazes.

10/10/17: This one will use a little more red than black.

10/10/17: This one will use a little bit of red and mostly black.

2017 Progress Report: October-Part 1

Since it has been so long since my last post, I decided to skip the rest of the Weekly Reports for the remainder of the year since this post as well as some upcoming posts would make those posts irrelevant. Also, as the title suggests, this will be the first of several October posts. Since I have nearly 100 pictures for October, this Progress Report will be divided up by weeks. I think the last time I did this was in May.

October was a rather unusual month for me. While I am usually busy in October, my crunch time is usually in November. However, since I had to have my show ready before Halloween, I had to do everything much earlier than usual. The good part about that is it wasn't as hectic as it could have been. There were several projects that I wanted to have in my last show, but they couldn't get done in time. Since they were much further along in development, I didn't have to rush to get them done. There were still many projects that were started much later and did need to get done right away. There was only one project that didn't get done in time for the show and that was only because I ran out of the supplies I needed and wasn't able to get more before the show.

This week focused mostly on clay work, though I was able to do other things. Despite having less than a month left until the show, I decided to start on some new projects. Also, I had an extra day off from work which allowed for more time to get stuff done. It was really a coincidence that I had as much time as I did. I put in several requests to have off in October prior to the show date being planned for a completely different reason and it coincidentally worked out great for me. Anyway, enjoy these 10 pictures and I will hopefully have the remaining posts up soon.

10/3/17: This is the first piece in my mask series. This particular mask is based on denial. I used foam heads to get the facial shape for the and the other face pieces.

10/3/17: This is the second piece in my mask series. The theme of this mask is anger. 

10/3/17: This is the third mask in my series of masks. The theme of this mask in bargaining. The triangular shape in the middle is supposed to represent hands in a prayer position.

10/3/17: The firing for this piece was successful. I found a way to use about half a dozen different glazes. Some polymer medium will need to be used in the middle in order to give the piece an all around consistent gloss.

10/4/17: This is the fourth mask in my mask series. The theme of this one is depression. The bottom part is supposed to represent either hands covering a face or just the face being covered in general. From a design point of view, this was least favorite piece. I felt like the bottom part wasn't defined well enough.

10/4/17: This is the last piece in my mask series. The theme of this piece is Acceptance. This  was one of my favorites though I was the nose area was a little more defined.

10/5/17: This is the start of my autumn-themed piece. I'm using a leaf as a representation.

10/5/17: I started the chicken wire work to help further define the shape of the piece.

10/5/17: I started the chicken wire work on the back.

10/5/17: This piece was supposed to have been done for my show I had last spring. The drawing is far from finished though it has come a long way.