Outcasts By Ash Bell Ceramics 1 Class of 2026 I really love sharks, snakes, and spiders, but many people feel the opposite. They’re terrified of them. Whenever I mention that I like them, people look at me as if I’m crazy and have a death wish. I want to show that no matter how society portrays these animals, they’re not as bad as believed. I want to spread my love and educate people so that they don’t just believe the bad things from the media. I made these pieces out of clay. I’m taking ceramics 1 but I decided I wanted to make sculptures. I should add that all of my pieces are hollow in the hopes they wouldn’t explode in the kiln. The spider was the easiest to make, as well as the smallest. I balled up some newspaper and sculpted the body around that. The leg I attached on and then added some reinforcement. Although one leg did fall off in bisque firing, it was easily put back on with glaze. The shark was the second hardest. I wanted to make it bigger than the spider, but smaller than the snake. I started with a “log” of newspaper and built clay around it. I then used more newspaper to sculpt the fins. To create more detail, I added more clay, especially around the head. It was too big to fit in the kiln so I cut it right behind the dorsal fin. The shark is the least detailed because I made it the fastest. The final piece is my snake. I knew from the start that the snake would be the biggest piece. I wanted it so big that I used a kiln shelf to build on. I started with a coil and slowly worked my way up, with each coil getting slightly smaller. The coil itself is also hollow with a lot of newspaper keeping it from caving in. It ended up being a bit taller than a foot. Then came the neck. I did something similar to what I did with the shark and used a “log” of newspaper to sculpt it. I had already made the head so I attached that on by cutting a hole in the bottom and simply laying it on top of the neck. The hood was harder to make because when I would try to add the left side, the neck would bend and at one point broke off. In the end I decided to fire the head and body separate and attach them in the glaze firing. I meant for there to be more detail in the glaze, but I was rushed. Overall, there were a lot of moving parts and challenges I had to figure out. Towards the end I was rushed, which is why two of my pieces are less detailed. If I did this again, I would definitely give myself more time. Despite this, I had a lot of fun making my collection.