Crows, not Krakens

We had to clean up the hall after Tuesday, so I only got one lesson to work on the horn. Still, though, I managed to finish the border. There wasn't any yellow glaze left, so I had it be a Night's Watch horn instead. The rim is without glaze, and I've carved the first line of the Night's Watch oath near the top, between the border and the rim.

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"Night gathers, and now my watch begins.
It shall not end until my death.
I shall take no wife, hold no land, and father no sons.
I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.
I will live and die at my post.
I am the sword in the darkness.
I am the watcher on the walls.
I am the fire that burns against the cold,
the light that brings the dawn,
the horn that wakes the sleeper,
the shield that guards the realm of men.
I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch,
for this night and all the nights to come."

Soon...

 Almost done now... I gotta say, knotwork is bloody hard! anyhoo, I found out thanks to Anisha that I can draw it on first, then carve. Not much else to say...

...and Carver was her name!

I printed out a template for the knotwork today, and I've been doing my best to follow it. I got about halfway round this lesson, and I feel like I'm really getting the hang of it now! Anyhoo, I'll also adorn the "body" of the horn with another knotwork of some sort, most likely one of the pictures. Shields are courtesy of Bethesda Softworks.

Reslipping

I spent about 3/4 of an hour trying to burnish the horn today, before simply coating it in slip again. It didn't work as I'd hope, and I think I'll simply have it be matte. Besides that, I tried to draw some knotwork on graph paper, and I gotta say, it's still pretty hard! Anyhoo, not much else happened, besides a visit to the dentist right after class.

Black slip

I've tried a bit of carving now - Celtic knotwork is flipping hard to do! - And I've got an idea for what to do to make it more successfull. It's simple, really. I just copy down the template onto a paper, fasten it to the cup, and trace with a knife.
Anyhoo, I covered one of the cups in black slip, as well as the drinking horn, and rubbed a spoon over the horn for the last bit of the lesson.
Yes. I rubbed the horn with a spoon.

Take the bull by the - No, wait, wrong place.

Started proper work on clay today. Begun with a good deal of experimenting and some brainstorming, then just started making something. The end result? a drinking horn. It's unembellished as of now, but I'll be carving it a bit when it's dried up some. I also made a pair of little cups that I plan to carve with Celtic knotwork, something like the pictures on the left. And then I made a clay ball. Yes.

New unit - clay

Not much done today. Got some criticism on my drawing, then we watched a slideshow about clay containers. I sat rubbing a bisc-fired cup the entire time. So... Interesting feel....

Cultures

Welp, now it's done. I'm pretty happy with the drawing, overall. I realize that the shoes could've been given a more central role, as they were given by the others, but I decided early on to focus more on the landscape than on the shoes.

Investigation
I actually did quite a bit for this part, looking up references, practicing trees, and so on. First I looked up Norwegian landscape, particularly that of Sogn og Fjordane, where my father lives. All in all I found five references: Two from the river passing through Førde, Jølstra, One from Sunnfjord museum, which displays old Norwegian homes, One from Geirangerfjorden, and one from another river in Førde. Having drawn these, I then practiced some trees, and tried a boat, which didn't end up making it into the drawing.

Design
Now this took some time. I decided to smash the references together, creating a river curving to the right, with a little bridge, then a view of a small valley with a few houses. There was originally a mountain where the sea is now, but I decided to change it.
The Mountain and sea stand for two important parts, that helped shape Norway into what it is today. While not particularly cruel for the most part, the mountains stop us from building in a lot of places, and send us out into the sea for food. The river is for the various fjords and rivers spiderwebbing Norway, the houses for its past, the trees for the forests which cover large parts of Norway. The shoes were originally meant to be "projecting" into the image from behind, but I decided against it. Instead, I decided to leave them there as though they were lost, or the person making the drawing had taken them off for the moment. They are Mountain shoes, again symbolising the nature in Norway.

Create
I ended up running a bit short on time here, so I spent extra time after school to draw the trees, saving me an hour of work in the class. Time, isn't that always the issue. Still, If I'd have had forty years, I would probably not be finished till the last day anyways. I managed to make the storm clouds by drawing with a piece of graphite on a separate paper, then rubbing it onto the drawing with a piece of paper. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, it's the first landscape I've managed properly.

See y'all later, then!

Landscapes

I've sketched down how it'll all look, and started to colour it in. The near trees are horrible, but I found a way to create stormclouds: I use the pure graphite as hard as I can on a separate piece of paper, then rub it over to the sky.

Also, have a little something I made a couple of weeks ago:

He may or may not be a W.I.P. I'll probably have to add the snout, of course. his name's Izol, the lonely traveller. Patron Dragon of broken promises, lost friends, and outcasts. I'm sure Anisha will like his colour.

Studies

I did a few studies of landscape this lesson - just googled "Norge", "Førde" and "Jølstra", and hey presto! Images ahoy. I got down one picture of Geirangerfjorden, two of Jølstra, one of Sunnfjord Museum, one of Halbrendselva and some that I can't recall. Overall pretty happy with it, I'll probably combine them somehow.

Shoes

Today, I drew shoes. That is all.

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Not really, of course. More details! First grade came in for Mr. Roman, and had a look at my drawing as well. I managed to draw down both my shoes, but I only had time to colour one. Still, It's okay to have only one of them coloured, I suppose - means I have one colour ref and one shape ref.