Relief Piece!

This piece was a very long, difficult process that i was glad to be apart of every step of the way. I started off trying to come up with ideas to make a relief piece, and as my teacher was explaining examples of artwork other students have done in the past she came across a project she found on pinterest as well as one she tried herself; multiple square tiles that fit together to create one picture. This got me thinking about designs and other ideas that i enjoyed as well as wanted to try. I started off with making 9 square 4x4 tiles and making sure they all fit together correctly. After this i sat down staring at the clay figuring out how to make relief out of these tiles. I thought of a certain design I have always had interest in and that was mandalas. I researched many differet complex designs and took bits and pieces from each one to create my own mandala design. After completing my madala design in my sketch book, i lightly drew my design on to my 9 clay tiles and made it the correct size. I chose which parts of the mandala would stick out or be carved out. After this i had so much relief and spaces that i thought about adding another material into my piece. I thought about something that was given to me as a present that i absolutely love. This was a glass skull in the picture above. So i decided to add glass to my piece and melt it in the kiln when my piece would be fired. The rest of the open space i painted using glaze, some of which also had broken pieces of glass mixed into the paint to create a different design compared to just a solid color. Overall i believe my piece turned out quite well! However, if i were to work with clay tiles again, i would be 100% sure that my tiles lined up perfectly to make sure the piece fit together. I also would choose my glaze colors a little more carefully, to make sure all of my colors work well together. This project was a very fun learning experience, even if the process did take an extensive amount of time. I love the way it turned out no matter how it looks because i put hard work into this and that is all that matters!