MY FIRST FIVE POUND POT

 Centering is the primary goal of a potter when working on the wheel.  In all my years of college ceramics I had to wait until becoming a teacher of beginning ceramics to find the best advice on centering.   It came from a video made by renowned potter Robin Hopper in his “Beginning to Throw”.  Contrary to all my previous learning, he advises to “catch” the clay with the LEFT hand, not push it with the right.   While catching the radius and ulna bones in the lower arm must be aimed  directly at the center of the wheel.   That is the key: aim directly at the center as if your arm is a hand on an analog clock.   Then the right hand is placed so that the outside edge of the palm (whole pinky side) is on top of the clay curving and pushing the clay into a hemisphere like an orange or grapefruit.    It is difficult to describe the process of centering in words, so if you’re truly interested I suggest you search for his video or watch videos on Ceramics Arts Daily*

Soooo, below you see the first five pound piece of clay I have ever attempted to center.   It took quite a while and I followed the advice to center the top half first then cone the clay upward and get into the middle and bottom sections.   

 

 I finally got it all centered and pulled up this cylinder.   I had to stop to take a picture of course, with camera in plastic bag to protect it from my clay full hands.

Glad I am that I took this picture because as you can see in the next picture, the next pulls were not so successful.    I must have gotten it too thin in the middle because there certainly is a wobble in it!   Time to bring out the trusty new Mudtool and make it earn it’s price!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I managed to straighten it out and pull up a neck, somewhat, but there are still some little dimples in the surface as you can see in the photo below.  

Undaunted, I carried on and finally made myself stop with this form.  To hide the little dimples I covered those spots with sprigs of leaves:

                                                                            

Finally I bisque fired it then glazed it with Pistachio Shino glaze.   Again you will see how dramatically the feel of the pot changes when it turns dark in the firing.

   I took this pot to a craft show and it was purchased  for $35! 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

* Ceramics Arts Daily is a website that offers free video clips each day many of which are of throwing techniques.

Thanks for visiting!  ttfn

 

 

"ROPE POT"

ROPE POT

I had just finished making a perfectly round pot which looked like a ball.  I loved the process and the result, so for this pot I started with the idea of making another “Ball Pot” by making and putting together two hemispheres: 

 

Unfortunately, the top section much larger than the bottom section so I had to camouflage the discrepancy in their sizes.  I used a big fat coil on the rim of the bottom section, scored and dampened with magic water, then set the top section over it.  I pushed the coil up to the top section and mushed (sorry, that’s a technical term you might not understand) everything together well, but the coil still protruded. Below is a picture of this process in process.        “It looks…HIDEOUS!”  

 

 

Actually I was somewhat “inspired” by the contemporary modern work seen in the ceramics magazines, none of which I find inspiring.  I am put off by the spontaneity of much of the work which to me indicates little thought and much happenstance.   It’s as if the artists are taking a page from Jackson Pollock and letting the universe control or determine the forms they present.   I taught art at the high school/middle school level and very much enjoyed the students’ sudden appreciation of an event such as the colors of paint swirling on the surface of water, or the forms created in clay when it drops on the floor or they just throw it onto the table.  Oftentimes these forms are worthy of examination but rarely are they worthy of being kept as a finished piece of artwork.  While a piece of clay that looks like a draped fabric is exciting in that the clay takes on the textures of the surface onto which it has been pressed, it seems to me that it should then be manipulated and controlled by the hand of a thoughtful and considerate artist to create a pleasing form rather that left to lie where it landed and be bisque fired.   But since I always admire those who have made the grade to be published, whether or not I agree with their viewpoint, I decided to work in that vein and be more spontaneous.   I rarely let my media be in control, but on the few occasions I have I have been pleasantly surprised.   Ever a former student in mind.

 

  I decided to use the bulge as a design element and wrapped a stick with string to make a paddle.   As I beat the join with the paddle it created a texture that did camouflage the discrepancy in the sizes between the two hemispheres, but it looked quite odd.  I made another long coil and cut it in half lengthwise and applied it to the body of the pot by scoring and using the Magic Water, then beat the coils onto the surface of the pot to create the same texture.   

I had just read an article in October 2013 Ceramics Monthly about pots made by Matt Repsher.  He treats the surface of his pots by scratching with a hacksaw then paints with slip then scrapes with a fettling knife to leave slip only in the scratch marks.   His work was fascinating to me with its textures and because of its pierced tracery.   I was anxious to try this technique so I did it in the low spaces between the coils. 

 

 

Above the pot is painted with slip from Laguna’s BMix clay.  My friends and I all laughed, thinking it looks like an Oreo Cookie or some kind of gooey pastry! Below is a photo of it after I scraped off most of the slip with a fettling knife.          

 

 

Since the coils look like ropes after the beating with the paddle I call it my “Rope Pot”.   When it is fired it will be a dark brown and I think I will leave it unglazed on the outside.   In photo below you will see how this clay changes from the terra cotta color to almost black after a glaze firing.

Here is the final product: 

 

Now, back to the drawing board.

Thanks for visiting!   ttfn

 



 

 

 

 

SPRIGGING AND DIVISIONS

 

 

Here is a little lidded jar with the sprigs as decorations. I am using the dark S266 dark brown clay which is excellent with the Coyote Shino Glazes when the surface of the clay undulates and is irregular.

To divide the pot evenly into five sections I made a template of thick paper to fit on the wheel head. The template is marked with lines at 72 degree intervals to create a pentagonal form.


I centered the little jar and used a flat board to push in on the sides. (As I did so, the neck became distorted so I had to straighten it and lighten up on the pressure while flattening the remaining sides.) I then applied a sprig to each little flat area.

Sprigs are shapes made of clay which are attached to the surface of a finished piece. If you are familiar with Wedgewood, you have seen sprigging: all the white figures that stand out from the surface of the blue clay are made with sprigs. Below you see I am pushing soft clay into the bisque mold:


Molds for sprigs are made of clay into which an object has been pressed, thereby creating an indentation in the clay in the shape of that object. The clay mold is then bisque fired and used to create sprigs. To make the sprig itself, soft clay is pressed into the indentation in the bisque mold, and then pulled out to produce a shape that matches the original object. (The bisque mold will release the soft clay easily; a wet metal blade pressed onto the back of the soft clay sprig helps pull it up and out of the mold.)

Below are a couple other pieces which use sprigging as their decoration. A vase, as unglazed and glazed, then an orchid pot as unglazed and glazed.

 

 

 

So, now I have sprigging to add to my collection of favorite ways to decorate my pots! ttfn

 

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

Finally! I am in the swing of throwing and glazing and loving it. Just in time for spring to come and pull me away to the dungeon of weeding and weed eating. Here is my most recent kiln load started: Here are some of the glazed pieces from that stack. Looks like someone has some glazing to do! The first I'll share is my favorite new orchid pot! I think I'll try to make enough orchid pots to sell so let me know if it's something you'd like, that will encourage me. I see orchids in the stores more and more everyday, so people might be getting into a new hobby... Here are four new mugs I made using my dark brown clay and one of my new glazes bought from Capitol Clay Arts Company in Charleston, WV. The glaze is another Coyote Cone Six glaze. My other new fascination is yarn bowls. I'm new at this so I haven't ventured out into unusual or interesting piercings yet, but give me time. And finally I'll share one more orchid pot then be done for today. Keep in mind that the drain pan under the pot will be filled with small pebbles and water which will elevate the pot to a nicer, more aesthetically pleasing level. Dial up takes all the fun out of blogging!!! See you next time. ttfn

MY "FRASIER POT"!

Watching shows of Frasier is the only thing that gets me through the agony of walking on the treadmill. They are without a doubt some of the funniest and cleverest people on television. Kudos to their writers! Anyway, on the table behind their couch sits a beautiful pot. I want one. I want to make one! I have tried several times to throw the base and the top but the form is very wide and the angle is only about 30 degrees—it slumps every time. So, I decided I’d make it using slabs. First I made two cardboard forms on which to rest the slabs.

Then I rolled out four slabs and cut the pieces to fit and match on the cardboard forms.

I slid the newspaper out from under, cut the edges at about a 45 degree angle so there would be more surfaces touching each other, scored them and painted them with magic water. Then I let them both stiffen up until it was “safe” to place them one on top of the other. I set one in a bowl for support, cut the edges at a 45 degree angle, then painted them with the magic water and put the two together. This is where they started to lose their shapes and take on personalities of their own…

While these set up a while longer I threw a base and a rim.

BTW you will notice that I am using two different colored clays. The bottom is porcelain, S213 and the top is S240 white stoneware clay scraps that are beige because it is recycled from a lost pot into which I had mixed oxides. I have no idea what color it will fire out to be. I attached the base to the pot but I didn’t like it; it made the whole unit too tall, so I cut the base off the base, put a slab on top and worked it on.

(Too bad I like the shape and form of the first one. Oh well.) I scored and slipped the rims and put them together.

This also looked taller than I wanted so I cut it back (and used the doughnut of the original rim as a hanger for my wind chime doodads. I scratched my signature lines into the top hoping they might distract a little from the lopsidedness of the piece. If I ever try this again (...NOT...) I think I'd go to the trouble to make stronger cardboard forms, maybe even leave them in to support the walls then fire them out. The next step is to see if the seams all separate during the firing.... ttfn

FIRST FIRING OF 2013

Happy New Year!! I'm firing my first (and probably my last) load of low-fire (04-05) clay as I type. I put into the load the first pieces I ever made using Terra Sig. The ts is on a cone 6 clay so I don't know what is going to happen, not knowing anything about what the heck I'm doing. If anyone out there has any advice (although I guess it's too late now, unless you can tell me what to expect over time from a cone 6 clay with terra sig on it) I'm open! Here is my 15 inch tall vase: I tried to make it look a bit like marble when I glazed it.

This next vase is one on which I experimented with hot wax resist. I have parafin in an old electric frypan and heated it to a liquid, then painted on the runes and lines before glazing. It's pretty primitive but I kind of like that. I don't think I'd be able to get very precise lines with hot wax.

These are the dinner plates I made in an effort to fill out a set to go with my favorite coffee mugs. The disadvantage in these plates is that the flat raw brown clay feels rough and not too aesthetically pleasing. But when I glaze the brown clay it loses the contrast from the green glazed area. I'm thinking only the mugs are good for this technique.

Well, back to the potting wheel. ttfn