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To begin the project I rolled out a big slab of clay around a fourth of an inch to make the biggest part of the structure, then I made four long slabs and 2 more on the side.

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Here is the other two slabs I made for the middle support of the big slab.

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Before attaching the 6 slabs of clay I made sure I had a good slip so my pieces would attach well. To attach the slabs I scored with a fork and pencil both of the slabs on the parts they will touch and put the slip on both as well.

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I attached all 6 slabs and made sure to go around all the corners and sides adding extra slip.

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After adding all the extra slip I went in with a card cleaning up the edges and then with a wet sponge to make the whole structure smooth.

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The main piece - Dia De Los Muertos Calavera 

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The main piece - Dia De Los Muertos Calavera 

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To start the Calavera I was unsure on how to start but I went with the flow and what I felt was the best way to go about it. I rolled out a big slab again about half an inch thick and cut out the shape of a skull.

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I then added 2 rolled-up balls of newspapers under the top of the skull and near the end of the skull. I shaped the skull cut out around the newspaper balls and made the edges flat.

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To start sculpting the skull I shaped out the size of the chin making it all even and symmetrical.

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What I used to guide myself through sculpting 

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What I used to guide myself through sculpting 

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I was unsure of where to go from here, I do not have any experience with clay before so I asked Mr. Stout how I could make the eyes and nose. He showed me the book Portrait Sculpting: Anatomy & Expressions in Clay by Philipp E and Chariss E Faraut. This is what I used to help guide me in making the skull shape.

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I used this page to learn where the correct placement of the eyes is, how to make the eye indentation in the clay, and how to give them shape and life to make it look real.

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This is the page I used to help with sculpting the overall bottom half of the skull. I made indents in the middle location of the skull and used pressure to make the cheekbones more visible.

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I cleaned up the skull by smoothing it out with a wet sponge and made sure the whole outer edge is flat.

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To make sure the skull is safe to be fired in the oven it needs to be hollowed out. Luckily for me, I started the skull with just a slab and made it hollow since the start this part was sort of already done for me but to me, it still felt too thick. I still went in and used one of the wire clay tools to scrape out some clay to make it a bit more thinner. This as well helped with making the edges more flat and symmetrical all around.

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My beginning idea with this project was to make a traditional sugar skull and surround it with marigold flowers. The skull was the part I thought I would struggle with the most but it became the easiest part for me and when I began to start sculpting the flowers I struggled a lot. I tried for around 4 days during class and on my own time to make the flowers. I googled videos on how to sculpt them and looked at so many inspiration pictures and I was just never satisfied with it. I could make the flowers but I didn't feel proud enough to put them on my wall relief. So I changed my plan and I was still able to make something that I can say is me and that I am proud to show off.

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Sculpting smaller pieces- Pan De Muertos

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Sculpting smaller pieces- Pan De Muertos

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During the celebration of Dia De Los Muertos, it is a tradition to buy or make Pan de Muerto and to be put in the offrendas that are made during this time. Since I had made already the skull which was going to be made into a traditional Calavera that is also put on the offrendas, I felt it was a nice touch to also add the bread and it would go together nicely.

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There are many different way that Pan de Muertos is made but I used this as my inspiration because that is the style I am most familiar with and is the one my family and I use in our offrenda.

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I began the sculpt of the breads by making two of these circle slabs at a reasonable thickness and size to make the overall bread.

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I put them under balls of newspaper and sculpted them around the balls to make the round shape.

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I finished by adding the decorations and flattened the outer edges and i was happy. I did go in after with a brush to add texture and look like the sugar sprinkled on top.

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Once I had finished making the skull and breads I added them to the wall relief with by add slip and scoring the parts that would touch. I also added air holes so it could have ventilation.

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To make the skull into a traditional Dia De Los Muertos Calavera my plan was to add designs all over the calavera to make it look like a sugar skull. I left the skull out for about an hour in my room so it could dry up a little and be nicer to etch on. These are the progress pictures as I went on going slowly but gently and precisely to make it all symmetrical. Traditionally one design on one of the sides of the calavera is also in the exact same place but on the opposite side, basically mirrored.

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The mouth

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The wall of the relief looked plain to me and I didn't just want to leave it empty so I began adding traditional designs mirroring each other. Honestly, I feel this part brought it all together and I love the result. It represents me and my interpretation of Dia De Los Muertos. Here are progress pictures of me etching the background.

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Final Autobiographical Wall Relief Project Pictures

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Final Autobiographical Wall Relief Project Pictures

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My name is Ashley Pedraza Jaramillo, I am 17 years old, and I am a first-generation Mexican-American and I have struggled with my racial identity. Yes I was born in the USA but I have never felt wanted here by society standards because I didn't grow up in a traditional American household, I grew up in a traditional Mexican household. I grew up in a community with other children like me but once my family moved and I was brought to a predominately white school, that's where my struggle began. I was able to make friends but I never felt completely connected with the other children because we didn't share many of the same lifestyle activities. When I would go to Mexico I felt the same way, I didn't share the lifestyle of cousins that lived there and I never felt we were connected because of the different lifestyles we had. When I was little my favorite day was Dia De Los Muertos. My family and I would make ofrendas for our past family members, we would eat pan de muerto, decorate calaveras de azucar, and go to festivals that celebrate this day. My favorite part was dressing up as a catrina. The reason I made this piece around Dia De Los Muertos is that the only thing that made me feel certain and I felt comfortable with who I was, was during the celebration of Dia De Los Muertos. Dressing up as a catrina during this time made me feel like my authentic self and I felt connected to my family and lucky that I could also share and show my culture with others. The Calavera etched with traditional Dia De Los Muertos represents the face painting done on catrinas during this time and the sugar skulls put on offrendas.