Not just for metal anymore

My son needed a cup, for his desk, to hold pens and pencils. The light weight containers he was using kept tipping over. Since my pottery can have a nice stabilizing weight to it, I made him a pen/pencil cup...a guy's cup. I threw a basic cylinder and added pieces of clay resembling a high relief version of a diamond plate pattern. Making the diamond pattern come out even all around was mainly due to luck since I was not in a planning mood and in quite a hurry to have it dry in time to fire. I was glad it was completed in time for Christmas. It seems like I started so early and had plenty of time. Then, all of the sudden...time's up. The magazine industry prepares their Christmas issue during the summer. Maybe they've got the right idea.

Almost forgot

Here's the silly doodle.

I'm apt to use an app.

You saw all that bisqueware that needs glazing, from my other post, well I am going to doodle on them. I will photograph each pot with my ipod touch, then use Doodle Buddy, a free application from the Apple store, to draw on them. A fine line is difficult to draw or control on the ipod touch since it is so small (an ipad would be nice right about now) but it might help me narrow down color and design options since no two pots are alike. Like an Etch-A-Sketch (remember them), I can shake the touch to erase my drawing; the photo stays put. There is a "smudge" feature that gives the drawing as close to a glazed look as I'm ever going to get. Maybe I'll figure some things out while I'm having fun and being silly. Got to be silly!

My Lidded Minis

The tallest is 3 1/4 inches, the shortest is 2 1/2 inches; that's counting the lid. These are what I call my minis. I eventually learned how to throw them off the hump which allowed me to make them quicker, but at first I threw them right on the bat with a tiny piece of clay. It some ways, it is more difficult to throw something that small because you just can't get your fingers around it as easily. But it was a great exercise in getting lids to fit really well. I hate a lid that is too loose. When you put my minis on a table, they lack the impact of a large dramatic piece of pottery, but displayed well, maybe on a mini shelf or side table, they hold their own with much character, I think. And besides that, if I say so myself, they are just soooo cute!

Project: Glaze

In my quest to become proficient on the wheel, I have accumulated a variety of shapes and sizes of bisque fired pottery. The shapes of some of these pots seemed so attractive to me, in their matt, monotone simplicity that I couldn't imagine or fathom putting a glazing them. But my pots were incomplete; without closure, so to speak. And what about me? I had no closure either. In other words, I was stuck! Well, they have sat there long enough and as the expression goes: it is time to clear the deck or in this case - shelf. To some, it may not look like a lot of pots but there are smaller pots hiding inside of the larger ones! And you know how small I can make them. So one of my New Year's resolution is to, one by one, glaze them all. It's got to be easier than my other resolution which is to lose 10 lbs. Right? Time will tell.

Hubbie's Tankard

This was the 4th and final attempt at making a mug for my husband.  My problem, as usual, was starting with enough clay to make it tall enough and to compensate for firing shrinkage. So each cup I made, no matter how huge it looked on the wheel, turned out too small. I can't blame him; no one wants a piddly little cup of coffee unless of course it's an espresso. Anyway, the other problem was not making a suitable handle. Large knuckles calls for a large handle. Such complication for, what I thought, was a simple, quick project. That was my first mistake, I guess. Finally, I decided to make a huge cylinder to get the height and a tankard was born. I incorporated his initials using a stamp I made which he uses to sign his projects. The glaze gave it an old weathered look which is a good match to such a classic shape. And the hubbie likes it.

Re-do for big blue

I picked up my newly fired cookie jar from the center today but I will have to hold off on the cookies. For some reason the glaze on the lid came out smooth and the body of the jar did not. The blue speckles on the body gives it a nice depth and so do the pin holes and blisters. Pin holes and blister....not exactly the "depth" I had in mind!  I used Amaco's paintable Indigo Float glaze which is usually so reliable. This pot is not one of my minis; reaching almost 9 inches with its lid on. So I am really hoping a re-fire will help.