More glazing fun!
Things have been going much more slowly lately. I've moved, I've switched jobs, and I've had a crazy schedule at all the jobs that I've been trying to balance. I know this doesn't sound ceramic-ie, but stay with me. Because of all that, I haven't been able to go to open studios or even class at times. This makes everything slow WAY down for a couple of reasons.
1) Obviously, if you aren't there to do the work, that is the number one way to get nothing done.
2) When you don't make it to the studio, your clay doesn't wait for you. Pieces continue to dry out, and weird things can happen. Plus, if you are gone for a long time, people tend to get more careless around stuff that seems like it's been untouched in forever. It's not a good practice, but when there is limited available space for storage, it just sorta happens.
3) When you miss time, you lose skill. Both because you aren't advancing, and because your mind and body kinda forget how to do things. They eventually get back into the groove of things, but it's a struggle. (At least this goes for me.)
4) When your piece gets to bone dry, it is very difficult to "save" it, or do anything with it at all. If this happens before you have trimmed it... You can really be in trouble.
5) We don't have an endless amount of clay. This means that you have to "recycle" clay. THAT means that sometimes your clay can be too hard or too soft to use. Getting your clay to the elasticity that you want/need and using it in a timely fashion can be hard the 2nd or 3rd go-around.
So, because I missed almost 2 weeks in the studio, I came back to bone-hard pieces that I spent time trying to save, and it didn't work. Plus, clay that was too hard. Then, I tried to recycle the clay from the pieces that went bone dry (because they were such large pieces, which equals a LOT of clay) and ended up making that clay too soft! So, I've spent weeks trying to get that clay to a place where I could use it, and then use it successfully.
In the long and short of it, I'm back to getting things created, but it's been a rough and slow road. Plus, I'm super behind on blogging. And so, to simplify things, I've decided to condense the catch-up entrees. First, finishing the old, and then the creation of the new. Last, I will post the newest updates.
So, without further delay...
First is a piece that was lost, and then found again. How very "Amazing Grace" of it... Just a small cup that was lost for a spell. That happens when you share a relatively small space with 20-30ish other artists and even more guests. In any case, here it is completed! Not incredible or anything, but not to shabby.
Next is the bowl that I almost got rid of just about 100 times. I'm glad I kept it, because as I guessed it would, the glaze saved it. I actually think it came out really well for a decorative bowl.
This next one is a form that I really like, and a glaze technique that I think turned out well. No one else seems to like it as much as I do, but that's alright. It has kinda weird colors, but I think they work well with the weird shape. Ah well, I enjoy it, hopefully someone else will too. (That's a whole other story.)
Last for this entree is the pair that I made with the lids. Forget about those? Man, you haven't seen those in a while! However, I have... I actually get kinda sick of looking at them after a point. (Probably why I forgot to document the entire colored slipping phase of these... In any case, here's the final product! They aren't everything that I had in my head, but they definitely stretched my skills, which was the main hope.
Before I move on, I want to say a bit about what I learned through these pieces and others that didn't end up making the cut. (Or got ruined in some way, shape or form. Remember, there is a lot "created" that never makes it through the 1st step, let alone the last.)
There are 2 main things that I started to learn more and more about as I work harder at increasing my technical skill level through these specific pieces. Form and glaze. To me, these are what makes a piece interesting. Maybe it's because in my head, what makes a piece interesting and what makes it marketable are very similar... (Obviously not the same...) But I just keep thinking about something my first ceramics teacher taught us on a trip to see a ceramics show. He said that every piece that is truly successful makes you want to move around it, or pick it up. It should KILL you that you aren't supposed to (when you aren't supposed to). And so, I've been trying to experiment. I'm trying to make my forms interesting, and then give them glazes that will make you want to walk around it or pick it up.
Now, those two are nothing without what I'm starting to learn about now... But it's where I was then, and it's something that is influencing what I'm trying to do now as well. Part of the art of ceramics is learning how to look at clay differently. Seeing a shape in your head or on paper and being able to create it is one of the hardest things to do (Coupled with making that same shape again and having them match). I'm not even close on that second one, but I'm feeling like I'm getting closer on being able to create a specific (or at least less random) shape. This is a fairly huge step as a potter, and I couldn't be more excited about it!
1) Obviously, if you aren't there to do the work, that is the number one way to get nothing done.
2) When you don't make it to the studio, your clay doesn't wait for you. Pieces continue to dry out, and weird things can happen. Plus, if you are gone for a long time, people tend to get more careless around stuff that seems like it's been untouched in forever. It's not a good practice, but when there is limited available space for storage, it just sorta happens.
3) When you miss time, you lose skill. Both because you aren't advancing, and because your mind and body kinda forget how to do things. They eventually get back into the groove of things, but it's a struggle. (At least this goes for me.)
4) When your piece gets to bone dry, it is very difficult to "save" it, or do anything with it at all. If this happens before you have trimmed it... You can really be in trouble.
5) We don't have an endless amount of clay. This means that you have to "recycle" clay. THAT means that sometimes your clay can be too hard or too soft to use. Getting your clay to the elasticity that you want/need and using it in a timely fashion can be hard the 2nd or 3rd go-around.
So, because I missed almost 2 weeks in the studio, I came back to bone-hard pieces that I spent time trying to save, and it didn't work. Plus, clay that was too hard. Then, I tried to recycle the clay from the pieces that went bone dry (because they were such large pieces, which equals a LOT of clay) and ended up making that clay too soft! So, I've spent weeks trying to get that clay to a place where I could use it, and then use it successfully.
In the long and short of it, I'm back to getting things created, but it's been a rough and slow road. Plus, I'm super behind on blogging. And so, to simplify things, I've decided to condense the catch-up entrees. First, finishing the old, and then the creation of the new. Last, I will post the newest updates.
So, without further delay...
First is a piece that was lost, and then found again. How very "Amazing Grace" of it... Just a small cup that was lost for a spell. That happens when you share a relatively small space with 20-30ish other artists and even more guests. In any case, here it is completed! Not incredible or anything, but not to shabby.
Next is the bowl that I almost got rid of just about 100 times. I'm glad I kept it, because as I guessed it would, the glaze saved it. I actually think it came out really well for a decorative bowl.
This next one is a form that I really like, and a glaze technique that I think turned out well. No one else seems to like it as much as I do, but that's alright. It has kinda weird colors, but I think they work well with the weird shape. Ah well, I enjoy it, hopefully someone else will too. (That's a whole other story.)
Last for this entree is the pair that I made with the lids. Forget about those? Man, you haven't seen those in a while! However, I have... I actually get kinda sick of looking at them after a point. (Probably why I forgot to document the entire colored slipping phase of these... In any case, here's the final product! They aren't everything that I had in my head, but they definitely stretched my skills, which was the main hope.
Before I move on, I want to say a bit about what I learned through these pieces and others that didn't end up making the cut. (Or got ruined in some way, shape or form. Remember, there is a lot "created" that never makes it through the 1st step, let alone the last.)
There are 2 main things that I started to learn more and more about as I work harder at increasing my technical skill level through these specific pieces. Form and glaze. To me, these are what makes a piece interesting. Maybe it's because in my head, what makes a piece interesting and what makes it marketable are very similar... (Obviously not the same...) But I just keep thinking about something my first ceramics teacher taught us on a trip to see a ceramics show. He said that every piece that is truly successful makes you want to move around it, or pick it up. It should KILL you that you aren't supposed to (when you aren't supposed to). And so, I've been trying to experiment. I'm trying to make my forms interesting, and then give them glazes that will make you want to walk around it or pick it up.
Now, those two are nothing without what I'm starting to learn about now... But it's where I was then, and it's something that is influencing what I'm trying to do now as well. Part of the art of ceramics is learning how to look at clay differently. Seeing a shape in your head or on paper and being able to create it is one of the hardest things to do (Coupled with making that same shape again and having them match). I'm not even close on that second one, but I'm feeling like I'm getting closer on being able to create a specific (or at least less random) shape. This is a fairly huge step as a potter, and I couldn't be more excited about it!