Clay was a brand new medium for me at the beginning of this class. Unlike drawing, painting, or sculpting with materials like cardboard or foam, it’s not used very frequently in the theater. Understandably so, given its fragility, but nonetheless I enjoyed the ability to work with such a versatile material, shaping it however I wanted. The first piece pictured here is a figure of a goose that was fired in a raku kiln. The raku process was fascinating because of its unpredictability. We could guess at what colors of glaze we were using, but due to so many variables in the temperature, oxygen exposure, and other elements, it was impossible to know for sure what exact color or crackle pattern you would get. The next pieces are a variety of mugs and saucers. Throughout this course, I appreciated the opportunity to blend form and function, and to make pieces that were beautiful, but also things that I would actually use. These pieces serve the same function as a normal, mass-produced coffee mug, but in fitting with the theme, I gave them each a unique shape for their handle and saucer. The landscape painting set features a handle shaped like a paintbrush and a painter’s palette saucer, and the peace sign set features a half-peace sign shaped handle and a flower saucer.