October 12 - Raku firing

I raku fired my pods and like the results.

You can see the rest here.

.

August 15 - Wednesday friends food and pods

Pete and Annie were in town for the evening on Wednesday so we met for supper at Ru San's.  They live in Florida now and were heading to Asheville for Pete's business meeting so the timing worked out well.  It was great to see them again.  I have had a lot of good times with them over the last thirty years and I miss them now that they have moved.

After supper, it was on to Clayworks to make more pods.

.

August 14 - Tuesday pods and leafy handles

I started making some more pods to be raku-fired and put some wonky leaf handles on my "flower" pot.  Greg gave me some good advice on the leaf decorations since I was trying way too hard to make them symmetrical.  Sometimes it's very hard to defeat the natural impulse to symmetry.  The mind wants everything to be symmetrical and you have to work at keeping it at bay.

.

Raku pod

This is a "pod" from our last raku firing. It's a closed form and has a juicy lustre to it and I like it a lot (even if I can't create a photo that does it justice).

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.

Back to work(?)

I can't call it work by any stretch of the imagination --it's too much fun. I have longed to be back in the studio (as you know if you've been reading this blog) and this week it finally happened. Classes started again at Clayworks! It was wonderful.

I enjoyed it so much I went to my regular Wednesday class and the Thursday night class. It was great seeing everyone and catching up with their summers --and then there was clay, too.

The orangestone clay I was using was unusually stiff, but it was still wonderful. I just cone-wedged and wet it on the wheel (after adding extra grog). On Wednesday I was pleased with the first pot I threw after such a long absence, which surprised me. I threw several more and thoroughly enjoyed myself (and had a lot of fun clowning with everyone else).

I am going to try to make some garden bells this session (think wind chime), so I threw a bunch of them in different sizes. I need to try all different sizes and thicknesses to find out what sounds the best. It should be a fun project and I'm looking forward to seeing (and hearing) some finished bells.

I threw large, textured pots, some lids, various bells, some pods (closed, organic, pointed forms), most of them off the hump, and only lost one. Life is good. I finished my "free" bag of clay from my class (in two nights, a new record for me!) and bought two more tonight. I am serious about making some pots this session.

Lots of pots under plastic.

Bit closer detail.

More clay for next time.

Elaine, I've made eleven pots so far this week (not counting lids). Only 89 more to go. You'd better hurry back from the beach. It's on.