Bowls...

A bowl can be used for more than just ramen. It can be the perfect home for jewellery, fruits, ornaments and more...

Above shows an inspiration photo of a bowl made by artist, Jude Winnall. She creates hand-made ceramics and porcelain jewellery. I especially love the elegance of her designs and the flower shapes that she incorporates in her bowls.

“I paint flowers so that they will not die." -Frida Kahlo (In my case, I mould ceramic flowers to preserve their memory)

hump mould bowls:

Professor Rochford recommended that we research hump moulds to create our slab pieces. I realised that using a hump mould would be the best way to create a flower-shaped bowl.

I began by cutting out a template, sketching a flower pattern. I wanted this bowl to be very big, so that it can be used for fruits.

I found a bowl in our kitchen that I could use to drape my clay over. I covered it with paper towels/wax paper so that the bowl would not stick to the clay or suck out its moisture (given that the bowl was made out of wood).

I also added a simple foot to the bowl to add some height and a finished touch.

The very first bowl I attempted cracked where the petals of my bowl met, and I realised that this was due to two things:

1. I rolled the clay too thin

2. The edges where the petals met was too sharp, which made it easier to break.

I actually contemplated on whether I should make the flower bowl again, but I was adamant in creating something that was unique and I really wanted to perfect this bowl and technique. I loved how the size of the flower was so grandiose.

The second time around I corrected my mistakes and rolled the clay a bit thicker by doubling up my slab sticks and I also altered the pattern a bit to make the edges where the petals met, a bit more rounded.

Folded Bowl:

I learned the folded bowl technique by watching another one of Karan's videos. I knew I wanted to attempt a different foot on this bowl, as I wanted to keep the overall shape of the bowl very clean and simple.

After some research, I found this artist, Merle Rosenbaum Lambeth, who is a small batch studio potter in San Diego, California. She used a very interesting foot that I wanted to attempt on my bowl. For me, the hardest part of creating this bowl was smoothing out the seams on the interior and exterior so that it would look like one piece. However, I noticed that in Lambeth's design, she embraced the folded technique by overlapping the edges.