Decanter with Stopper

I’m still at that point as a potter that I don’t always know what I’m going to end up with when I sit down at the wheel with a freshly wedged hunk of clay. I haven’t gotten to the point yet where I can point my bat at right field and then proceed to hit the ball there.

This decanter is one of those projects. I didn’t know where the ball would end up when I started. Once I had the height, I went for the shape (and probably lost some clay in the process), and once I had the shape, I went for the detail on the top half. This pot and a couple of others fell victim to the Thanksgiving break of two weeks during which the studio was closed. I forgot what kind of clay I had used–I was using up bags of both white and “50” (gray that turns into speckled brown)–and made the assumption that I had used white. They both look very similar at the leather hard stage. I then had the idea of adding the abstract slip decoration around the belly of the pot and also crafted a stopper. In the end, I discovered that I had used 50 clay to make the pot and white clay for the decoration and stopper.  Again assuming white clay, I used a clear runny matte glaze to finish the piece. And here is the result. Not exactly what I was expecting, but that is hardly ever the case anyway.  Waiting for a piece to come out of the kiln and see how it turned out is part of the fun of being a potter. I think I’m pleased with this one.

 

Smallish Bowl

I was mainly playing around with glazes on this one. I believe that’s white clay under there. I used my old friend eggshell as the base and dribbled another couple of colors along the edge. Gabardine tan (on top) was one of them. Buttercup (on the bottom) may have been the other. I had fun watching the patterns emerge as I squirted the glaze down the side of the bowl. Rivulets have minds of their own.

The Shady Nook Bowls

I think I have finally finished all of the pots I made while at Shady Nook, NY. Here is a series of bowls that came out well. They have made their way into my kitchen and are already proving very useful. They represent my foray into making larger pots. The one with the plate is a berry bowl. I have one other berry bowl, but it is currently in a show at the community center.

 

A Very Tiny Pot

Sometimes I revert back to tiny. But you know, I kind of enjoy tiny. Making tiny pots is fun and satisfying. This one is really tiny–probably less than two inches square.

Garlic Keeper Turned Votive Holder

Voila! Garlic keeper #1. My mentor warned me that it would be much too small to hold much garlic, and he was right. This one won’t even hold one head of garlic. It may even be too small for the smallest of votive candles. I need to try one of the small, white, generic candles…or grow some miniature garlic.

Back at the wheel, I am making another garlic keeper. One of the other potters in the studio buzzed by to have a look at what I was up to the other day and wondered if I was making a cooking pot. I may have gone too far the other direction. We will see.

Artistic License or a Mistake?

This started out as a small, failed cylinder. But then I thought, hmmm…this flopped in an interesting way. Why not work with it a bit and see what I end up with? And so, here is the result: a small vase for forward-thinking flowers.