Monday, January 13, 2014

52 Form Project - Week 2

Larger vase I made several years ago on the left with smaller, recent version on the right
Last week was not a confidence-booster for the 52 Form Project (in which I am planning to make a new or modified form for every week of this year). I had in mind revisiting a form I made several years ago, and was not pleased with the initial results. I thought making a smaller version of the larger ring vase (as seen above) would make it less awkward looking and feeling. I made this form based on a love of the North Carolina Moravian's attempt at making tin-glazed earthenware and more particularly, this form:

Courtesy, Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture

If you want a great video to watch, check out this video of Michelle Erickson making a reproduction of the Moravian ring bottle:


I also thoroughly enjoy five finger vases, or early ceramic vases with five openings that are fairly flat, such as this:
Courtesy, Chipstone
Perhaps this was all a train wreck waiting to happen and these are forms that should not be combined. I did not like the clunky shape of the form. This is what the initial results were:





The last one above particularly reminded me too much of this (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but not something I want to make):


By the end of the week, I threw everything out of the window (not literally) and went back to the drawing board. I took in mind my love of the ruffly edge on antique earthenware flowerpots, such as this Chester County, Pennsylvania piece from 1827:

Courtesy, Colonial Sense
I combined it with my interest in the ring vessel and below is what I came up with. I think it will look nice with a touch of blue on the ruffled edges and maybe some slight modifications.


I think it will be a nice form to hold small buds of flowers or heads of larger flowers, such as my mock up with fake daisies:

Your input on this project would be greatly appreciated! I am hoping to gain some insight into what interest there may be for the forms I develop in the next 50 weeks and how I may make the forms different, or whether the forms are just too strange for selling!

3 comments:

Justin Thomas said...

The flower pot form is really interesting. Makes for a really nice floral arrangement where you can have a potted flower in the center and rotating cut flowers on the outside. Seems like a really nice innovative idea. I don't see why it wouldn't sell.

Dennis Allen said...

When I see ring vases, I think of the ceramic canteens. They had a lot more negative space like your earlier one. As the hole gets smaller, they start to look more like a bagel. While you may never make another one, now you know to say no if someone asks for one! Win or lose it's all an education.

Liberty Stoneware said...

Thanks for the comments! Dennis, maybe it is a bagel that I think of, and that a bagel should not stand upright!