1. How was your process similar and/or different to Yee SooKyung’s work:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/yee-sookyung/

In many ways, my process was similar and different from Yee SooKyung’s work. Yee SooKyung had evidently used different pieces from different pots to assemble together, and form a new pot. My process was similar to that; I took another person’s pot, took mine, then somehow connected them together to form a new pot. But on the other hand, my process is very different from Yee SooKyung’s work. While she made a pot, I only made half a pot. While she made a whole shape that could be recognized as a rough circle, my work only resembled a semicircle. So our process and final result are similar but also differ in many ways.

    2)  Is your final form a pot? Please explain with the use of examples.

Sadly, no, my final form is not a pot. In fact, if you combine the other halves, it might resemble a pot. I took my pot and another person’s pot, and somehow managed to fit her pot into mines, so that it would look like a pot with another pot inside but cut in half. The definition of a pot is a round container of some kind, that can contain something. My pot, however, cannot contain anything, so therefore is not considered a pot.

Explain how you used your object in your final design

My final design was modelled after a Roman helmet, the one with the plumes of hair. For the hair design, I used my object, which is a bottle cap, and made the imprints with the sides of the bottle cap.

Explain how you are connected to your object and why it is personally significant to you.

Well, a bottle cap isn’t really useful to me, but it is meaningful. When we were little, me and my sister used to collect bottle caps, just to see what we could do with them. Sometimes we would combine two of them and make a box, containing something small in it. Other times we would marvel over how unique the bottle cap was from the others. In a way, the bottle cap itself represents our childhood silliness.

What are some improvements that could be made?

I could make the hair more realistic, instead of making it look like a dragon’s spikes or a mohawk, so when someone glances at the pot they’ll immediately see the connection with the Roman helmet. I could also make it more like the pot is resting on top of the actual “cup” and not the “head” of the guy who’s wearing the helmet.

What are some achievements you are proud of?

I’m proud of the idea that I came up with. It’s not easy connecting a bottle cap and a Roman helmet. I’m also proud of how I managed to turn a helmet into a pot, which was actually one of my main challenges in this project. Last of all, I think I did well on supporting the structure, because the helmet’s structure makes it really easy to break off anytime.

What are 3 key differences between working with clay and wood for relief sculpture? (What are you able to do with clay that you cannot do with wood?)

The first thing that comes to mind is that wood is obviously much harder and not-easier to work with. Clay is such a soft material that you can “erase” your mistakes with your finger by blending over the mistake, unlike the wood. With wood, once something is imprinted or carved into the wood, it can’t be reversed. Even if you can paint over the mistake, you can still feel it with your finger. Working with clay has it’s benefits and downfalls, and wood also has it’s benefits and downfalls. When you work with clay, it’s easier to restart, to form shapes with your hands, and easier to mould into a abstract 3D shape because of it’s soft form. On the other hand, when you work with clay, all the imprints left behind when you blend the clay with a tool or something is left there. Every crease, fold and crack etc stays there, and once the clay is fired, it doesn’t look that great as it might when you blended it when it was still soft. So you can see clay as a material you want to use when creating 3D shapes that is just to show the overall and bigger picture.

On the contrary, wood is a material you want to use for precision. Indeed, wood is a very hard material and often is stubborn and hard to bend to your will, oft times leaving you with sore fingers after carving out with the knives. Strength, patience and precision is required when working with wood, and usually not much people have the patience and precision to work with wood. Moreover, wood is the exact material you will want to use when seeking for precise details and a “woody” feeling. While clay is not that useful when seeking for precision, wood is a good material to use that can display the details in a very natural way. Therefore these are the differences between working with clay and wood for relief sculpture.

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