My Decisions about Proportions and Profile

Review your journal assignment from Lesson One. You may want to reconsider one or more of those preliminary decisions.

Will your vessel both celebrate an event or achievement and be functional? Will some of your proportions by determined by how the vessel will be used? What proportions can you use to express the feeling, mood, or ideas of your celebration? For example will your vessel express your event or achievement best by being wide and deep, tall and slim, equal in all dimensions (height, width, and depth)? What profile best expresses the celebratory feeling, mood, or idea? For example will your vessel be most expressive of your celebration if it has a gradual, steady, gently curving profile; a profile that moves in and out at sharp angles; a concave [curved in] or convex [curved out] profile; a complex or simple profile?

The following instructions are for making a scale drawing to help you plan a round vessel. Here is a sample profile drawing.

Use a piece of graph paper to plan your vessel’s profile. Your drawing should be to scale, that is, it should use the same proportions as you plan for your finished vessel. Begin by deciding on the proportions of your vessel’s height and width. If you plan for it to be taller than wide, turn your paper vertically. If it will be wider than tall, turn your paper horizontally. Draw a line down the center to paper to represent the axis of your vessel. Locate the top and bottom of your vessel by making marks on the axis.

How wide should the mouth of your vessel be compared to its height and width? Mark off half the mouth’s width on the right and on the left of the axis. Decide how wide the foot or base should be in comparison to the mouth. How wide should the widest part be? How high should your vessel be? Mark the width of the vessel’s foot or base.

Decide where the widest part of the vessel should be. Should your vessel be widest exactly in the middle? Higher? Lower? Mark off half the distance on each side of the axis. Where should your vessel be the narrowest? Mark off your vessel’s narrowest part. Depending on the complexity of your vessel you may want to locate and mark other key parts.

Draw a line connecting marks along one side of your vessel. Consider how gradually or sharply the profile should bulge in and out. When you think the profile is good, fold your paper along the axis. Place your folded paper on a light table or against a window. Trace the other half of the vessel.

Think again about the event or achievement you want your vessel to celebrate and any functional uses it might have. Decide whether to change the profile to make your vessel more functional or more expressive. Begin to think about where you will place a repeat pattern in your vessel. Consider different locations (for example, lip, neck, shoulder, center of belly, low on belly, and foot).

Checklist
Complete a scale drawing and write about your decisions including the following items:
1. If I changed my mind about the celebration I wanted to express, I explained why I chose a different celebration for my vessel.
2. I included a scale drawing of the profile for my celebration vessel.
3. I explained expressive (and perhaps also functional) reasons for this profile.
4. I used traditional ceramic terms in my explanation (such as mouth, lip, neck, shoulder, belly, and foot).
5. I marked sections of my vessel where I’m considering adding a decorative pattern.

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