Deliverable 4. Form and function.
Choose an item to use for ceramic slip casting – a process traditionally used for making domestic vessels as well as decorative pieces. You will be taken through the necessary steps for making the mold and casting as well as joining and modifying leather hard slipware before firing. Consider whether your outcomes are based more on form or on function providing a brief assessment on your blog as to which category the outcome may belong to. Document your work on your blog at each stage – particularly in case it is in the kiln during assessment week!
For my slip casting workshops I chose 2 items which would fit into both form and function, so this is tricky! I didn’t make it easy for myself.
I chose a vase and a diffuser scent bottle – both of which need to perform the function of holding a liquid, so both will need to have no holes and both will need to be glazed on the inside so that the vessels don’t absorb the liquid placed in them.
Having said that, I also selected both for their form. I have loved my Mum’s 1970’s amethyst glass vase since childhood – it’s so tactile & heavy and sensuous. It’s an organic shape that has always reminded me of a sea urchin, others have said it reminded them of a pumpkin or an orange with the segments.
The diffuser bottle on the other hand is a lovely geometric shape – when bottles are usually tall and thin, this one is short and fat!
On balance I would say the form is proabably more important for the vase because if it wasn’t funtional and I couldn’t put flowers in it, I would still love it anyway as an ornament.
I don’t feel the same way about the bottle – if I couldn’t use it, I would throw it away, so in this case I would say the function is more important.
clairemaloney 