In Basic Ceramics we were recently working on making goblets. It’s a little medieval but I really enjoyed this project. We had to use slabs of clay and cut out pieces to make the stem of the goblet. The rounded cup part was made by pinching clay which then was attached to the stem. We were required to make two, one that was organic in shape and the other angular.

The wanted the angular one to almost represent a diamond. So I made a pentagonal shape at the base and worked it up from there. There was a lot of scoring and slipping involved to make sure that the slabs of clay didn’t come apart. Once the stem was completed I need to figure out how I wanted to attach the piece. I decided to make an angular smaller bowl to have the cup part sit in.

I wanted the organic goblet to have a ribbon-like quality to it, so I took a slab of clay and wrapped it around itself. Then I took the end of the part sticking out and pressed the sides to look like a ribbon. I repeated this on the opposite side and bottom to give it a symmetrical look. This also gave the goblet more support so that it wouldn’t wobble.

After the goblets were fired I sanded the cup part so that it would be smooth. I did this to the stems as well so that they had a nice finished look. I glazed the angular goblet with a black color and the organic ribbon one with a glaze called angel eyes. The angel eyes glaze has blue and red tints but you never know how it will turn out, which is very exciting. Both will be fired on Wednesday and hopefully soon after I’ll be able to post the finished product.