2017-10-12 - Thursday - Jars

After discussing the lids with Kira, I trimmed them down substantially. I need to work on my jar forms a bit more.

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2017-10-08 - Sunday - Pots

Sunday I made some lids for the jars, cut feet into the bottoms, and added some texture to one of them.

I played with some of the camera options on my new phone. This time: focus.

When I got home I snapped some photos of the face mugs that came out of the kiln. I like them.

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2016-09-08 - Thursday - Teapots and fish

Thursday I made spouts and lids for my teapots. Teapots are quite a bit of work, with lots of individual parts and connections. I don't think people sometimes realize how much work goes into them. I also threw some tea bowls.

I loaded the fish into the bisque kiln along with some of my other pots and a bunch of students' work.

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2014-08-07 - Thursday - Geeking out and lids

Thursday I was geeking out because my new Lord of the Rings set arrived.  (Yes, it says "15 discs".)  I was going to order it back in June as a birthday present to myself, but I procrastinated --and I'm glad I did.  In June it was $68 on Amazon and my brother sent me a gift card towards it.  Last week it was the Deal of the Day and after subtracting the gift card, it cost me $15 with free shipping.  Procrastination does sometimes pay off.

Thursday night I went to Clayworks and made lids for my urns.  I'm not thrilled with them and I may have to start over.  We'll see.

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2009-10-01 Thursday - Lids

I went to the Clayworks on Thursday with the sole purpose in mind of making some lids for the casseroles I threw the other night. I was also thinking about attempting some more of those flattened bottle shapes and I wanted to finish the lid for my crackle pot.

I threw one of the casserole lids three times because I kept ruining it. I guess third time's the charm... I wasn't overly thrilled with them, but I think they'll do better with a little finishing work. At least they are thin and light.

I had some clay left over so I threw some small, wonky bottles. I hate putting wedged clay back in the bag --it's like I failed or something.

The winning lid.
It raises the pot up whereas the crackled lid
didn't do anything beyond "ending" the pot.
(I'm going to fire the crackle lid too.)

(Beer bottle included for scale reference.)

Lid foreground, casserole background.

Same lineup, different pots.
On the right is the latest flattened bottle that ruptured.
I pushed the break back together.

Wonky bottles.
I hesitate to tell you that I started with an attempt
to make a small, traditional jug with a handle...
Oh well, at least they're light and even.

2009-09-27 Sunday - Barrel/Saggar/Raku

I went to Clayworks on Sunday to help out with the barrel/saggar/raku firings and finished off three possible lids for one of my crackle pots.

Becky and Elaine loaded the barrel and started that firing before I arrived. By the time I got there it was smoking nicely and the pieces inside were at the mercy of laws of physics.

We did saggar firing in the raku kiln. We brought it up to ~1150 F like Andy Smith taught us at his workshop and the results were tremendous. Becky was thrilled with her birds and I think Nick nailed it when he called them "stunning".

Next up was the raku firing. We brought the kiln up to ~1750 F while we watched the glazes get juicy and then lay down. Becky and Nick were happy with their pieces but unfortunately all but one of Amy's slab pieces cracked. I think the earthen red she used could be part of the problem since it has no grog, and couldn't survive the thermal shock, but I will check with Greg Scott on that theory.

Becky also did some horse hair work on some of her birds and Cindy's cats. They came out nice, but we should have let them cool a bit more before removing them from the kiln.

In between the firings I worked on my lids for one of my crackle pots. I ended up making three very different lids to compare. I like all three of them for different reasons so I don't know which one I will pick.

Kiln opening, lid trimming and pots

As always there was a lot happening in the studio Thursday night. After the regular classes, Julie, Greg, and Ro opened their kiln. Elaine, Becky, and Sunshine also showed up for the festivities. It was a fine firing and everyone was pretty pleased with their pots.

Becky and Elaine had some test tiles in the kiln to try out some of their new glazes.

With all the kiln opening festivities I didn't get a chance to throw any more pots tonight. Hopefully I will get some things made Friday night.

Sunshine, Elaine, Julie, and Ro
(doing her Vanna White impersonation).

Greg likes his cup
(and I do too!).

Julie had quite a large collection
in this firing and it came out great.

Greg's part of the firing.
Most of the larger pieces are a commission.

Somehow in all the hub-bub I missed getting a picture of Ro's work, which was wonderful. Sorry, Ro!

The folks firing the kiln were very kind to include a few of my pieces. We were anxious to see how the new underglazes worked out and they came out pretty well.

Spotted shino with red underglaze spiral.

Spotted shino, red and yellow
underglaze, and Tom's clear.

Spotted shino, yellow and red underglazes.

A couple of my juicers with
yanagahara white and Alfred blue.
These both have the same glazes
and were right next to each other
in the kiln. You just never know...

I trimmed up this lid tonight.
It's one of the new style ones that
are hollow from the bottom of the
interior flange to the top of the point.

This is a straight-on picture that shows
the way the line follows from the lid to the pot.
I am pleased with the dimensions on this one.

Turn on, tune in, throw pots.

Make them pots

On Thursday I tried to make up some ground. After trimming some pieces, I threw some mugs, a small lidded jar, and another juicer. I am hoping to pull some handles off the mugs this weekend.

Work on, dude.

Pots (I think...)

I finally got around to counting my pots on Wednesday and was quite startled to discover that I only had thirty-six. I was further disappointed to find out that this is week FIVE of our class and not week four as had I thought. I am going to have to stop spending so much time trimming (and talking).

I don't want to sound too down about the whole thing. This has been a wonderful experience so far and my throwing has improved dramatically. I am going to make a huge effort to get to one hundred before time runs out. I just hope I can get everything glazed before the end of this session.

Some bisqued pots waiting for glaze.

Four of my juicers and a stoppered bottle.

Pot with a new style lid (the hollow one).

Detail of the lid.

Per Peter Lenzo's recommendation, I have purchased some Speedball underglazes and can't wait to try them out. Thanks, Mr. Lenzo.

Joe surprised me with some new ribs from his trip to Highwater. I used the stainless steel ones and they were great. I can't wait to start some plates and use the thick wooden plate rib. Thanks Joe!

Pots?

I'm not nearly as far along as I thought I was last week.

I only counted thirty-six pots last night and I'm in week four.

I think I have gotten sidetracked with too much fiddling with lids and decorating/trimming. I am going to have to step it up a bit if I am going to get to one hundred in the time allotted. I will make an effort tonight to get some more thrown, but I have to glaze some too. Now is the big test for my (non-existent) organizational skills.

"Second star to the right and straight on til morning."

Wednesday 2008-10-01

Wednesday night class: An old friend.

We always have a good time on Wednesdays. We've got a good group and we love to make pots almost as much as we love to cut up.

Greg's new hat accessory --what all the potters
in Paris are wearing this year.

All my current lids have been thrown upside-down off the hump. Unfortunately this leaves a large, solid bit of clay in the cone shape. After a discussion with Greg on Wednesday I tried throwing one right-side-up off the hump. Doing it that way it allowed me to throw the cone on top and close it up to make it hollow. Now I will trim the flange into the bottom of the lid which is completely backwards to me. Next I'll have to throw a lid and then throw a pot to go with it.

New lid in town.

More potential bells.
(I remembered to slip these.)

Tuesday 2008-09-30

Sometimes I drop in on Ron's Tuesday night class. This week I was there for the bowl demo and I learned a lot about throwing larger bowls. Thanks, Ron.

Ron discussing Rick's bowl.
These guys get into their work --just look at their clothes.

I am trudging ahead toward my 100 pots, but I have no idea where I am in the numbers. I will try to get a count on them next time I'm at the studio. I am still trying new things every time I sit down at the wheel.

My "pods" sculpture.

Oh yeah, here's the top of it.

Another in what's becoming
my "forest gnome series".

I am working on a new lid form (thanks Rick!). Instead of the plain dome lid I've been making the new lids are cone-shaped and flip up at the edge. After trimming I add a "carrot" of clay and throw the knob onto the lid.

I could live to be two hundred years old and never try all the things I want to in clay.