Robin's egg, samurai, and stranger things
I got to pick up my first finished piece at pottery class last night. The teacher, Jim, has his own studio and kiln. He volunteered to take a piece from each of us home a few weeks ago and fire it so we could have some feedback on our glazing. I got back the first piece I ever made, a rather thick-lipped and slightly asymmetric cup in a beautiful robin's egg blue.
It is so pretty. My new preciousss.
Last night's class was mostly glazing. We're doing a raku firing next Tuesday (our regular Monday class time being taken by Memorial Day). I don't fully understand why a raku firing is so darn cool, but there is generalized squeeing from the other students that we're doing one. Raku uses different glazes which seem to be kinda shiny, turns any unglazed part of the pottery black, and can be done in a few hours. Whatever we fire on Tuesday night will be ready to be taken home that night. Thumbs up to that. The rest of our pieces will be fired next week and we'll pick them all up on the first Monday in June. I'll post pics when I get all my pieces back.
I glazed the inside of my ashtray for the raku firing with "copper penny". *evil grin* That should give a nice streaky coppery sheen to the inside of it while the unglazed outside will fire to black. Come on. If I'm going to make an frickin' ashtray in pottery class, it's gotta go all the way into the kitch.
I glazed a bunch of other pieces in whatever seemed handy. Other more experienced students were being fussy. The point of pottery for me is fun, so I'm not going to stress about glazing any more than I am about not being able to throw what I have envisioned in my head. The kiln, like the clay, has a will of its own. You never quite know what you're going to get. So if the green slip and the Laguna Green glaze were open and available last night, that's what I used.
*topic shift*
The Netflix Powers That Be bestowed upon me the movie Seven Samurai this weekend. It's a three and a half hour long Japanese film from 1954. Any film buffs out there might be able to explain to me why it is a classic because frankly, not getting it.
My main impressions are that there's lots of running. Lots of group running. Lots of long shots highlighting wordless reactions that are supposed to express something completely lost on me. Plus everyone has the TOP of their heads shaved, like crowns of their heads down to their temples. Explain?
It is so pretty. My new preciousss.
Last night's class was mostly glazing. We're doing a raku firing next Tuesday (our regular Monday class time being taken by Memorial Day). I don't fully understand why a raku firing is so darn cool, but there is generalized squeeing from the other students that we're doing one. Raku uses different glazes which seem to be kinda shiny, turns any unglazed part of the pottery black, and can be done in a few hours. Whatever we fire on Tuesday night will be ready to be taken home that night. Thumbs up to that. The rest of our pieces will be fired next week and we'll pick them all up on the first Monday in June. I'll post pics when I get all my pieces back.
I glazed the inside of my ashtray for the raku firing with "copper penny". *evil grin* That should give a nice streaky coppery sheen to the inside of it while the unglazed outside will fire to black. Come on. If I'm going to make an frickin' ashtray in pottery class, it's gotta go all the way into the kitch.
I glazed a bunch of other pieces in whatever seemed handy. Other more experienced students were being fussy. The point of pottery for me is fun, so I'm not going to stress about glazing any more than I am about not being able to throw what I have envisioned in my head. The kiln, like the clay, has a will of its own. You never quite know what you're going to get. So if the green slip and the Laguna Green glaze were open and available last night, that's what I used.
*topic shift*
The Netflix Powers That Be bestowed upon me the movie Seven Samurai this weekend. It's a three and a half hour long Japanese film from 1954. Any film buffs out there might be able to explain to me why it is a classic because frankly, not getting it.
My main impressions are that there's lots of running. Lots of group running. Lots of long shots highlighting wordless reactions that are supposed to express something completely lost on me. Plus everyone has the TOP of their heads shaved, like crowns of their heads down to their temples. Explain?