No melt down here

This is a Jack Jarvie pot that I selected and purchased from his home collection. It was done back in the day, when he did a lot of teaching demonstrations and very creative/experimental pottery. I think that paddled  area with the in-set  cat tail design is a very clever and beautiful detail. I am really enjoying the fact that he comes in regularly to my Thursday clay class. It is a great opportunity for me to chat-it-up about clay and glazes...especially about their chemical make-up and what ingredients to add to adjust their characteristics. How often does that usually happen?!  He has a wealth of knowledge and I am thrilled he is still able and interested in sharing it with me. A teacher for the teacher....how great is that!

Almost doesn't count

The vase above was made and glazed by my friend and master potter, Jack Jarvie. He has been making pottery almost all his life and he now comes to the senior center to impart some of his vast expertise and knowledge in the clay arts...hence my nickname for him "the professor". Well the professor has tons of clay he has dug from all around Utah. We tested a few batches to see if it would make it to cone 5/6 and we thought we were all set. Well, it almost had a melt down. It slumped and bubbled and buckled at cone 5/6. (I'm thinking we might have had a clay mix-up) Even though the glaze is quite blistered, and the firing actually immortalized some clay bubbles, it still holds water somehow and looks beautiful next to my petunias and dianthus. No shelf was harmed in this firing. As I like to say, "almost" doesn't count.