Novac

"Novac"- meaning money. I chose to name this piece "Novac" because I felt like this is one of my best works yet, and since it was made for Heart and Soul I thought it would be appropriate. The process was very time consuming and a lot of work. The first step in making this peice was rolling about half an inch thick coils, in an array of different sizes and took a tooth pic and created slanted marks in the coils, kind of making a coral-like texture. After allowing the coils to dry in a leather state, I got a good sized plastic bowl and laid out a bottom and then began piecing the coils together in a sort of web-like structure with slip.

After the bowl had dried nearly to bone, I slowly took it out of the plastic bowl where it kept the shape of the bowl. I began to make barnacles out of rolled out balls of clay and stuck the end of a paint brush to create a hole in the barnacles. I then placed them inside the bowl and around the outside as well.

However, there were many obstacles making this piece. During the process of glazing the piece, a part of the coral "stems" got knocked of, therefore we had to wait another to start completely glazing because we had to place the broken coral back on. To do this, we used a mixture of glaze, vinegar and corn syrup and slipped in back onto the piece. I then began to glaze the piece in the glaze Aurora which is like a green-ish yellow in about three coats. After the firing of Aurora the color did not come out as expected, it seemed to hardly show.

I then glazed it in another glaze that was sort of similar called Green moss and to add something different to the piece, I added light and dark blue and green crushed glass in the center of the piece as well as in the barnacles mixed with clear glaze. The glass melted and created a nice finish to the center of the piece and the color showed as it was destined too. For a final touch I added Rub N Buff Gold onto the outer rims of the barnacles to give it one last touch.