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