Glazed, Fired, Finished!

So I picked up me ceramic sculpture last night, She was glazed and fired. I am relatively happy with how she turned out. 

I wish the glaze had modeled and crazed a bit more. Also the blue that I put on her really didn't show as much as I had wanted. But all in all for my first time working with this material and also this method. I am happy. 

Do or Die

My last attempt at saving the ceramic sculpture that I have been working on. Barb, the instructor, informed me last night that this was do or die, either way she/I needed to by done. She needed to be fired. 

I got the poem carved into her back. I fixed as many cracks as I could with a concoction of slip, paper, and vinegar. Barb said this is the best option I have to get her to not crack. 

I also added the birds on her head and also in the nest. I can't remember what Barb called the stuff that you can see on her wrist and a few other locations. This is also something to help bond the cracks that are forming. 

I need to either change my method of sculpting or not use this clay for this type of work. It has been a great learning experience to try this clay and also to push myself to sculpt with a very limited time frame. Not something that I am good at so I think it has been good for me. I think she will be bisque fired next time I am at class. So then I need to think about how I will finish her. What glazes will work, and how do I want her to look. 

More Work... Not Happy

So, it has become painfully clear that I don't understand the process of ceramic clay. When I got to class a couple of weeks ago I had to redo all her hair/nest. I didn't understand the process and the clay had all pulled away from her head. I could literally just chip it off. Do the picture above is after I had redone her. Also had to reattach her hand AGAIN! Seriouly this is killing me. 

It has been a couple of weeks because I didn't go to class on Halloween. But Barb (The instructor) sent me this picture of her. Again she has big cracks on the clay that I had tried to attach. She said she thinks we can fix it without having to remove her hair/nest again. I guess I will see when I get there is coming week. I am at a loss with her. Do I continue and try to make something of this? Or do I scrap this project?