VOLUNTEER TEAPOT

Sorry if you noticed a delay in my postings…took a tumble and had bruised elbows and a stitch in my arm so couldn’t’ mess in the clay for a week.   Glad you’re back and faithful.  All’s well that ends well.

VOLUNTEER TEAPOT

I set out to make a garlic pot like the one I use which was made by Diana Frank.  As I worked I realized it might be way bigger than I wanted for a garlic pot, so I decided it could be a bean pot.  “Lidded” was the keyword as that was the challenge I’d put forth for myself.

As the throwing spun to an end, the pot had decided to be a teapot.  No plan, no intention on my part.   The clay determined the size and contours and pronounced itself a teapot.  I wonder if this might be an inkling of how a novelist feels when the characters come alive for the author and direct the work.

And so, I was compelled to throw a lid, a spout and make a handle.

The pitfalls:

   As I cut off the pot it was apparent that the bottom was dangerously thin.  I never like it when I can see the wire moving under the clay.  Also, I felt the lid might be too shallow, but it was all the clay I had left so I had to go with it. 

   The handle.  Hmmmm.   You know how I hate to pull handles.   But, my hands took a wad of clay and began to pull a handle as I watched.   I listened to them (my hands) and paid attention to the bulges that needed to be compressed and the straining that seemed to be stretching to the point of breaking, and a handle appeared.   A right fine form if I do say so myself, although my self had nothing to do with it.  Nice job, hands!  As you can see, I left it hanging on the shelf to stiffen up with its fellows.

Conclusions:

     When I returned to attach handle and spout and trim the lid most of my fears came to reality.  

    The handle had fallen from its perch and when I tried to curve it to the side of the pot it snapped in the middle.  Not good to repair a handle for a vessel that will be holding boiling hot liquid.  I have a fantasy that I’ll make a reed handle if the teapot makes it through the firing/glazing.

     The lid was too thin at the bottom (top) and I had to add a hunk to form a grip.  (I also am grateful that a bit of wobble and off centeredness is not so obvious in a stationary form.) 

     The spout, while a bit thick, seemed to work out well, although aesthetically it looks a bit stiff and awkward.   Geez, it looks like it was made by a beginner!!  lol

    The bottom of the body was indeed too thin—I mushed a wad of soft clay and formed a disk.  Slipped and scored, both bottom and disk, and they seemed to strengthen the base.  Only time and the firing (if it gets that far) will tell.

     Here is a picture of the unfinished, unclean teapot.  I think I will attempt to make another handle, it certainly is demanding it.

Much to be done, but I am inspired to try again.  I’m nearly out of clay and will have to make a run to Capitol Clay Arts in Charleston for more. 

I feel the warmth of spring and the outdoors calling me, I hope ceramics doesn’t take a back burner.             

ttfn  mec

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Isn't it amazing how we can be moved by something, "forgedaboudit",  then later it comes forth in something we do or make? 

A minute ago I went to Adobe Photoshop to adjust the size of the photo of this round ball of a pot and immediately noticed the photo on the wall behind it.  I had JUST pinned those up on the wall before I sat down at the wheel.  I remember noticing that black form with appreciation as I pinned it up.   Honestly, I did not have that in mind as I worked up this piece, but I like that it shadows the form.

 This next photo is of a vase I'm working on to try to make it look like an old hunk of iron wood--hopefully it will be a series of organic vertical half rounds, smooth, and perhaps not glazed but stained a soft gray matte.  I'll work on it tomorrow and post new photos when it's done. 

WHAT IS IT?

WHAT IS IT?

This is a little pot I designed as spring started to peek through the mud and snowy ground.  Someone looked at it and said shyly:  “What is it?”

What would you say it is?

And this is what a slump looks like:

Been too busy in the house to get out to the studio and create lately.  

BTW, I don't know why this blog doesn't seem to allow you to leave comments, so if you have anything you'd like to say, my email is maryellenchapman8@gmail.com   Thanks for visiting and I'll work on the comment option.   Any tips?

mec

ttfn

AUTUMN LEAVES

AUTUMN LEAVES

 

These bone-dry mugs carry the shapes of autumn leaves that fell to the ground last fall.   Their colors were so brilliant, in high contrast and beautifully designed, I hated to let them fade and crinkle up without some sort of honoring.  The leaves became stencils so when the surface around them was sponged down it made them stand proud.  

     They are painted with the American Art Clay Company underglaze paints Deanna ‘gave’ me.  They were one of those givings that come into your life and are just what you wanted but didn’t even know it.  Incredulous as to why she would give up such a treasure, since she works in clay too, she simply said, “If I need them…I’ll know where they are.”    

    

     Using these glazes was like water color painting!  I’m excited to see how they look when fired.  Many of my pots are going to want a transparent glaze on them.  When we get the kiln connected it will be a whole new world that should keep me out of trouble for the rest of my days.    

mec

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STAMP MADE FOR ME BY NATE

     A gift from my son, this stamp has turned out to be my new potter’s mark. It works as a “rubber” stamp with an ink pad, it works as a press into a wax seal, and now it works in leather hard clay.

     I was very active with calligraphy when he carved this bit of antler with an initial E and set it into a piece of wood.   It just fits my hand.  Thoughtful little arrow carved on the nether end helps me identify which end is up--information often not at my fingertips.

     . 

 

     I’m surprised that I’m willing to bring it back out to the clay area.  When I first started in clay I took it out there and promptly misplaced it.   Thinking I had accidentally let it fall into the wastebasket which was sitting next to the counter, I thought I had lost it forever.  My heart was broken.    I don’t remember where I finally found it (I’d never stopped looking).  But when I did, I marched it right back to the big house.   Since then I have moved the trash can well away from any surface that could catch a falling treasure, and I have matured a bit.   I want to use it and will just have to be careful and pay attention to where I put.  So many risks in life.

ttfn
mec

SIX MUGS and a new stamp

SIX MUGS and a new stamp.

This is a picture of an impression made with a stamp my son made for me back in the day—it is carved antler set into a  wooden holder and my initial E is scrolled into the end of it.   I am going to use it as my potter’s stamp from now on.  I noticed when I looked at this picture how meek I am about doing anything that alters the thrown form.   I am so satisfied to have centered and pulled a cylinder and changed it into anything, I hesitate to mess with it.   As I peruse other's blogs I am so impressed with their work I can sense myself seeking to be more bold and audacious and manipulative.  Perhaps I am slipping away from being a neophyte?

The project of six mugs was designed to force myself to make matching forms.  When I view the blogs of  potters  who pot for a living I am always envious of their table full of matching forms.   I mentioned in my first post that I normally do not do things twice, I find it difficult both physically and spiritually and so am grateful this is not my source of income.   But I felt it was important to push myself and try. 

     While I did not use exactly the same amount of clay each time, as is obvious in the finished mugs, I did pretty well for a beginner at duplicating the basic simple form six times.  Only once did I lose and have to cut off the top portion of the pull, ergo the littlest mug.  Here they are, cleaned up and recorded.

      The Standard 213 porcelain is dreamy to pull.    I did find two little white hard bits of clay that hadn’t mixed into the block of moist  clay I just opened—one of my mugs is going to have a little hole in it I’m afraid...or, will it fire with the bonedry clay and just be part of the mug?

To make the handles I used a brainstorm that came to me in the night.  (Again, I apologize to whoever described or demonstrated this previously…

nah, I’m sure it was my own idea.

By pinching along one side of a cardboard tube I was able to make a form that just matched the inside of the handle of my favorite coffee cup. 

 I cut a slab and lay it over the cardboard to match the size of that handle and cut it into the six strips—two at ½ inch for the small mugs, four at ¾ inch for the large mugs.   I let them get to leatherhard while still on the cardboard support.  When the  strips and mugs were  leather hard, I attached them. 

 A bit of hand work went into smoothing and trimming I admit, but the idea worked.  I realized while doing that handwork that I should have done it while they were still more damp.     I’m not so good at pulling handles (probably because I cop out and make slabs instead of practicing) so this seemed like a good solution.  I’m pleased that they all look reasonably alike.  

Now that I’ve fulfilled my personal challenge, I’m back to making one of a kind pieces.   I’m going to continue work on my pitcher and mug with built in handles and see if I can make them more aesthetically pleasing. 

ttfn.   mec 

a la Claytimes magazine, thank you Bill Van Gilder!

This was a good learning experience.   The wall is thrown w/o a bottom, then stretched to the oval form and when soft leather hard, set onto a dampened slab.  I used corrugated cardboard to press the texture into the handle (and rolled the coils of the feet on it too) before applying them.  Learned how to use a dowel to press the ends of the handles and coils of the feet to attach them.



I love this way of making a lid for an organic form.   Put a soft slab into the stiff leatherhard pot, press it downward (as if for a slump mold) and press or roll a rolling pin around the lip to impress it onto the underside of the slab.   Let it stiffen, then trim to fit into the gallery or onto the edge of the pot.  Dry pot and lid together.

I tried this pot twice because the one on the left (my first attempt) is cut too close to the sides I think, making the shape too narrow.   The second time I understood the process better and was able to make it more round.  I love this trick of cutting the half circles out of the wide rim then using the cheese cutter wire to remove the two sides of the rim.  Suddenly there are handles.
ttfn  mec