The Disappearing Pot

I could claim that I intentionally made this pot small, but I would be lying. It started out big and this is what I ended up after multiple attempts to get everything straight. I figured that small and straight would be better than large and wobbly (of which I already have plenty of examples). In any case, each pot is another chance to experiment with glaze. On this one, I used Randy’s Red again (it comes out differently based on how big the pot is, what it is placed next to in the kiln, what type of clay is being used, what other glazes are used with it, etc. etc.). In this case, it was straight Red with some Granny’s Black Shorts painted in the lines.

Mosquitoes Beware

The thing I like about pottery is that it can be so functional. Take this little insect stick holder I created. We were having a hard time mounting a lighted insect stick on the porch without danger of burning down the house, so I decided to create a holder for it. Because the inside of the stick is hollow and the smoke comes out both ends, the pot also needed to be vented at the bottom. I was working small this time, which was a bit easier for me than working large–although I did get my finger temporarily stuck in the pot. The nuclear shape was intentional this time as I wanted a stable bottom.

We tried lighting a stick in the pot last night and had limited success. We may have to raise the stick off the bottom of the pot to create more venting (the stick went out half way burned and we didn’t spot much smoke coming out of the bottom). This is not necessarily a pottery problem though. The mosquitoes were laughing as they snacked on our legs.

Ugly

Here we have “ugly” with interested cat (for scale). First of all, the pot looks nuclear in its shape, and it also lists to one side (not shown here). It also weighs a ton as I hadn’t yet gotten the hang of opening the middle properly. This vase (?) would make a good anti-burglar weapon–throw it accurately at someone’s head and it will result in a concussion.

I wanted to experiment with glaze. This time, I painted the design on with something called “wonder glaze,” which produces a glossy finish after either the bisque firing or the glaze firing. The instructor informed me, however, that the wonder glaze would run when combined with glaze, even if bisque fired first. Sigh. So, I figured, in for a penny, in for a pound. I expected a red, white, and blue abstract created by the wonder glazes mixing  with the white glaze I applied over the whole thing. I added more red wonder glaze to the top and inside to enhance what was surely to be a wonder of abstract designs on the bottom. And well…that didn’t happen. Not only did the designs not run (they only bled a bit), but the red at the top made a mess.

This is a throw away. Unless someone wants it for burglars.

A Rescue

Another lopsided bowl that probably started out as a cylinder. It was so lopsided at the leather-hard stage that I decided that I either needed to throw it away or take some drastic action to save it. I got out a knife and did some carving along the top edge, thus eliminating most of the offending jut to one side. In any case, I wanted to experiment more with the glaze. For this one, I gouged out the balloony designs, then painted the balloons with underglaze, then bisque fired. After bisque firing,  I painted over the balloons again with clear glaze and again with wax. And then I dipped the whole shebang into the glaze bucket and sent it off for glaze firing. At least I achieved the desired result!

A Slightly Lopsided Bowl

If you look carefully, you will notice that the brown side of the bowl is a bit more elongated than the cream-colored side. I craftily disguised this by employing a creative application of glaze. I am also a much better photographer than potter, and so am able to show this bowl off to its best advantage in the flat dimension. Hold it in your hand and there’s no disguising the fact that it’s somewhat off. I believe this is a slight overlap of “Randy’s Red” and “Mandy White.” Apparently you can’t overlap the glazes too much or you’ll have a mess in the kiln.

A Plate???

This is my first plate. Because the photo is so one-dimensional, you can’t really see how it looks like something dug up from the ancient Roman ruins. It’s got a bit of a pot belly in the middle. My family tells me it would make a nice wall hanging.

Aside from the structural clay problems, I also had the blurring together of the underglaze and the glaze because I hadn’t learned that lesson yet. I made the design by pressing peppermint geranium leaves from my garden into the leather-hard clay, then pulling them off. I then painted the underglaze on and wiped off the excess so that it stayed in the impressions.

Experimenting

Here is a slightly (well…more than slightly) off-kilter bowl. I was probably trying to make a cylinder, but ended up with a bowl. I placed some glass pieces at the bottom before glaze firing to see how it would turn out. Lessons learned: make sure the color of the glass will go with the glaze (which it obviously doesn’t here), make sure the pot doesn’t list to the side (the glass will follow the slant), don’t plan on using a pot with glass in it for food.

I drew the graphics on the outside of the bowl using underglazes, then bisque-fired. Then I applied glazes (blue on the inside and clear on the outside) for the final glaze firing. I was happy that the designs stayed put. The first time I tried the underglaze, I put the glaze over the top and fired everything together (see first post). It all ran together.

First Pottery Post

I’m branching out! To date, I have been a photographer. Nothing three-dimensional. Some of you might know me from photoeclectia.wordpress.com or http://www.photoeclectia.com. But I got the pottery bug after taking a couple of community center classes and now I’m hooked. I plan to use this blog to document my progress. I hope that in my first year of throwing pots on a wheel that I will be able to make at least one or two pots that don’t list to one side or the other or that feel like boat anchors. Not there yet.

I started in March 2017. Let’s see how it goes.

Here are my first couple of attempts. One was good enough to put an orchid into, but believe me, the clay rules. In my earliest attempts on the wheel, it worked me more than me working it.