Pottery Update, August
I do not think my love for being at the pottery studio can be sufficiently described.
Ben goes on Thursday afternoons and, although he talks about it like a grumpy old man, he is clearly enjoying it and is obsessed with getting his pieces PERFECT. He just brought home his first completed piece today!
For the summer I get to be there for four hours on Tuesday (10-2) and then 3 hours on Thursdays, just like during the school year. The teacher teases me about having a wild production line going because, well, it's my way: I do the same thing over and over to try and get REALLY good at it. I'm about to get to do another task!
I've completed cylinders, AND I've pulled handles on PILES of cylinders. I've completed plates. Next I get to pull up a vessel and collar it until it closes at the top, THEN the top is cut off to make a lidded vessel! That will be my fall work. :-)
So...many samples to share photos off!
These are two shallow dishes with the Cretan labyrinth. The form I used had been a soap dish, so that's the size of them.
These are the first cylinders I did. I like the carved lines in them, and they were high-fired.
These were incredibly slap-dash labyrinth coasters I did just because I had extra clay that I didn't want to have to put away.
This is a pile of cylinders that I've put pulled handles onto. I wasn't sure about pulling the handles directly off the vessels, but tha turned out to be the better option. The misshapen one is the Dr. Seuss mug...may as well turn a mistake into something fun.
These are the 6 that I DID attach the handle, finish shaping it, and then attach the bottom. It works MUCH better (unless the clay is too wet, at which point it's a disaster).
Once I got all the handles on, I carved various stylized turtles into these, and then I painted them with colored slip, all before they were fired.
Here are more mugs, including the grumpy/suspicious-cat mug.
And still more slip-painted mugs.
The 12 items I threw that day: 11 plates and one larger cylinder (which now has a handle on it).
Just some perspective: these plates are BARELY big enough for dessert plates. I slip-painted them with turtles, but I forgot to photo that berore I dlipped them in glaze. The high fire kiln won't be able to be fired until at last October, so I'll find out then how they all turn out.
I LOVE how this cylinder turned out. It's not as spiffy once I trimmed it and forced a handle on it. But it's a nice 1 1/2 to 2 pound piece instead of the tiny 1-pound pieces.
This vessel I threw, LOVED, and then threw a lid and threw the knob onto it. The knob is a bit big, but I still love its shape. This one I'm not even going to decorate, but am just going to have fired and dip it in glaze and leave well enough alone.
Here is that cylinder, cut down, and with a handle added. It looks so SMALL by comparison to what it was before it dried so much. I'm decorating it, so we'll see how that turns out.
These are the plates, all dipped in high-fire glaze, waiting for it to get chilly out.
I've got 2 more spiral/labyrinth plates to make to have a set. After that, I think I want to just throw the plates; it's MUCH easier than having to roll them out in slabs. I've got a couple of ideas for square boxes, though I may just throw a vessel and then warp it into having "sides."
We'll see. I've already signed up for both Autumn sessions.
Ben goes on Thursday afternoons and, although he talks about it like a grumpy old man, he is clearly enjoying it and is obsessed with getting his pieces PERFECT. He just brought home his first completed piece today!
For the summer I get to be there for four hours on Tuesday (10-2) and then 3 hours on Thursdays, just like during the school year. The teacher teases me about having a wild production line going because, well, it's my way: I do the same thing over and over to try and get REALLY good at it. I'm about to get to do another task!
I've completed cylinders, AND I've pulled handles on PILES of cylinders. I've completed plates. Next I get to pull up a vessel and collar it until it closes at the top, THEN the top is cut off to make a lidded vessel! That will be my fall work. :-)
So...many samples to share photos off!
These are two shallow dishes with the Cretan labyrinth. The form I used had been a soap dish, so that's the size of them.
These are the first cylinders I did. I like the carved lines in them, and they were high-fired.
These were incredibly slap-dash labyrinth coasters I did just because I had extra clay that I didn't want to have to put away.
This is a pile of cylinders that I've put pulled handles onto. I wasn't sure about pulling the handles directly off the vessels, but tha turned out to be the better option. The misshapen one is the Dr. Seuss mug...may as well turn a mistake into something fun.
These are the 6 that I DID attach the handle, finish shaping it, and then attach the bottom. It works MUCH better (unless the clay is too wet, at which point it's a disaster).
Once I got all the handles on, I carved various stylized turtles into these, and then I painted them with colored slip, all before they were fired.
Here are more mugs, including the grumpy/suspicious-cat mug.
And still more slip-painted mugs.
The 12 items I threw that day: 11 plates and one larger cylinder (which now has a handle on it).
Just some perspective: these plates are BARELY big enough for dessert plates. I slip-painted them with turtles, but I forgot to photo that berore I dlipped them in glaze. The high fire kiln won't be able to be fired until at last October, so I'll find out then how they all turn out.
I LOVE how this cylinder turned out. It's not as spiffy once I trimmed it and forced a handle on it. But it's a nice 1 1/2 to 2 pound piece instead of the tiny 1-pound pieces.
This vessel I threw, LOVED, and then threw a lid and threw the knob onto it. The knob is a bit big, but I still love its shape. This one I'm not even going to decorate, but am just going to have fired and dip it in glaze and leave well enough alone.
Here is that cylinder, cut down, and with a handle added. It looks so SMALL by comparison to what it was before it dried so much. I'm decorating it, so we'll see how that turns out.
These are the plates, all dipped in high-fire glaze, waiting for it to get chilly out.
I've got 2 more spiral/labyrinth plates to make to have a set. After that, I think I want to just throw the plates; it's MUCH easier than having to roll them out in slabs. I've got a couple of ideas for square boxes, though I may just throw a vessel and then warp it into having "sides."
We'll see. I've already signed up for both Autumn sessions.