Toucan Tile Pieces

The process of making these four tiles were sort of a challenge because we were working on our project after this one. We had to make six tiles of basically any subject. I chose to do a Toucan because they are beautiful birds and are a interesting shape, also something I haven't done with a art project before. Like I always do horses or dragons or something. I was only able to make four tiles because it was always the top left corner that kept breaking off because I've noticed the leaves and the toucan's beak are really close together so I would see now why that would be a problem. Firstly we had a flat piece of clay tile and then we started to mold our shape of our subject onto the clay to make a classic mold piece first. We used tools to mold all the parts together and also to clearly make a foreground and background variation within the piece. Next we put boards around our clay tile once it was dry and had to mix some plaster and pour it on our clay to make a huge plaster brick. Then when it was all dry, I took the mold out which could be tossed away, and then you have your main plaster piece with the indention of the bird inside. So everyday we had to pack clay within the mold and let it dry for a hour and then carefully pop out the clay tile from the plaster mold. At first it was hard to pack the clay in because the clay would be either super dry and hard to pack in, or the clay would be super soft and wet, and packing that was hard too because the clay would not roll out as much it would stick to your fingers and then also could remove the bottom layer you were just adding on. It was sticky, and annoying! After everyone's was finally all made we went into the glazing room. I wouldn't say I had experience with glazing but I have been to many painting pottery places before so I almost knew what colors of glaze I wanted. But, I did somehow forget the special trick you have to do when adding two different colors on top of each other, I wish I had remember to do so when adding layers of different paint but at the same time I was curious to see interesting mixing colors. I think the glazing was the most fun part because it kept you busy and it was almost like a painting class painting on the colors you wanted. The ones on the left were my better of the other two because the colors mixed interesting and just came out really pretty. The top left was like dipped in all green and I think I did orange on the beak but with the two colors ontop the colors somewhat merged. I think I had to add wax to it before but I wasn't too sure. The bottom left I put a cerulean and purple together and it really turned out the best as far as colors, was really pretty. The top right was suppose to be I think all blue and it was suppose to have a black body but it didn't really turn out good it was like the same color as the clay first started out. The bottom left I was really hoping would turn out good but it sorta stayed the same color again. I don't remember what the background color was, but I did two combinations of texture. I added flecks of paint by flicking the paint brush on it with i think blue or tomato red. Then I added like spots with the brush that's suppose to be almost leopard-like because I wanted a jungle feel. In the middle I painted on a different color just to seperate the top and bottom of the tile. I think mine were the only ones that weren't as glossy/shiny as the other ones and I'm not sure why. This was a fun project though. I would have wished all the tubs of glaze had examples of what each clay would come out looking like, like the glazed version of the clay would look like so we would know what to expect.