Here are all my finished pieces. At least the ones I decided to keep. I practiced my turning technique on pieces I wasn’t too crazy about. Above is what I have to show for a week’s worth of work, a lot more ended up in the reclaim pile.
They will now dry out for about a week, then get bisque fired and then I will return to glaze them. So stay tuned, I’ll let you know how everything turns out.
Here are just a few of my pieces, I thought I would share with you. I made a small vase this morning “off the hump”, just to get warmed up. My tutor showed me how to make plates and bowls today, she makes it look wonderfully seamless as her hands move in, out, across and around. It doesn’t always look like that when I try, However, this afternoon, I made the perfect bowl.
The stars aligned, the sun shone from the heavens, the angels were singing, because everything went just right! I pulled the clay up perfectly with no issues and used my metal kidney to slowly start to form a bowl and little by little the shape took form. Once, I was happy, I called it a day, because you don’t want to mess with a good thing. The bowl I attempted to make after that, turned out fat and slightly off, but who cares? I got one right and it felt so good.
Tomorrow, I’m turning all my pieces out and glazing till my heart’s content.
I’ve moved into my third day of pottery class. Yesterday, I learned to throw “off the hump”, which means I created objects (a pot, mini bowl, egg cup holder and candlestick) all out of a single piece of clay that I formed into a cone like shape and worked with it from there.
There’s still a few things I need to work on, but I’m loving this process. I work alone in the afternoon and the time just flew by, I was so lost in what I was doing. I couldn’t believe when my teacher appeared with a mug of tea for me that it was already after 4 pm. I had been steadily working away for over two hours. Incredible!
Today, I worked on throwing jars with separate lids and had my first go at turning some of my pots from my very first day, which are now leather hard. I’m getting there, slowly but surely!
{Sorry there are no pictures, I was so busy throwing, I forgot to snap a picture of my growing collection}
I’m taking a summer class to learn how to throw pottery. So, come September, I can start teaching these techniques to students.
Today was intensive, but I feel that I walked away with a good foundation. I can confidently bring my clay up into a cone and work it back down into a ball/dome shape on the wheel. I can also make the opening for a pot and bring that back up into a dome shape and begin to form my desired object.
Although I made a pot, a mug and a planter today, I need to work on refining my techniques. A lot more of my pieces ended up in the reclaim tub then on my board to dry out. Oh well, back to the wheel tomorrow!
{A gorgeous wildflower garden I passed on my way to class, it was buzz, buzz, buzzing with big fat bumblebees and that made me happy!}