of ashtrays and vases

The friend who ordered an ashtray showed the last photo I took to his friends. Now, another friend wants one. Sigh... the only consolation is that these can be squared off bowls/plates as well as ashtrays.

I've been trying to push myself to throw taller and lighter with larger amounts of clay. The vases above were thrown from around 6.75 - 7lbs of clay. By the time they are done, they should be about 11-11.75 inches tall. Not bad. And they're not too heavy either. Happy!

Below are the two vases from last week. The shorter one is not bad. It's slightly off center at the top, but I can handle that. The one in the back had 'lumps', so I decided to start carving random streaks in it to help smooth those lumps out. I'm happy with the result, even if I did give another potter a 'heart attack' when I was madly carving. Sometimes, it's fun to just carve into these vases with no plan and no control (well, control enough not to break through the walls, but you get what I mean).

One plate, two vases and an ashtray

It's on to vases for me right now. I'm kind of tired of making little plates and painting them. I have a few weeks, and I need to keep the motivation up, so it's vase making time. The one above should be about 9.5 inches tall when it's done. Made from about 4lbs of clay. It's nice and light! Though, I'm not sure how good that is for a vase. It shouldn't tip over and all once you have it full of water. And to tell the truth, I had no idea I was going to make a vase when I was throwing this one. I thought I was going to throw a bowl, but as I was pulling the walls up, it ended up being a vase instead. Happy about that.

This vase is made from a platter whose rim flopped over when I was taking the bat off of the wheel. I started out with about 9.5 lbs of clay. I think that 9.5 lbs of clay is a bit more than I can really center right now. I'm going to have to build up to it. After taking the flopped platter off of the bat, I then re-wedged it (air bubbles galore!). Somehow I managed to take off about 2.5 lbs of clay when I made the platter, because this vase was made from about 7 lbs of clay. Now, usually, you can't throw tall items from clay that was just thrown and rewedged. It's too wet. However, because of the weather and because I am stubborn, I got this nice piece. Yes, there are air bubbles in it, but if it dries enough, no worries.

Between the vases, I made this plate. I really wasn't in the bowl-making frame of mind, but I thought it might be nice to have at least one more platter made that I can paint on. There's an annual fundraiser for the East Bay Humane Society in the autumn, so this might be a good one. I just need to figure out what sort of design to paint on it.

Finally, an ashtray. In all my years of pottery (12 years!), I have never once made an ashtray or have been asked to make one. And then... last week, I was asked. Sigh... And now, my friend who asked me to make one has shown this photo to his friends who might want one too. On the one hand, I'm happy to get my work promoted. On the other hand, IT'S AN ASHTRAY! This is almost as bad as the ginormous nose shaped egg separator... Ah well, the things you do to keep yourself busy and out of trouble.

A strainer and a vase/bottle

A friend in the pottery class is moving, and she gave me her clay. Not wanting the clay to go to waste, I made a few things for her that she wanted. Above is a rather large bowl made from about 6 lbs of clay. It will be a pasta strainer once it is trimmed and poked with holes.

Then, I made a bulby vase for her too. This is my effort to throw a little over 7 lbs at once. I prefer to stack my clay when I make big things. I get more height when I do that. Still, it's good to challenge myself on occasion.

I also threw 4 four pound plates for APE, a show in October. As much as I like my little plates, it is going to take a lot of plates to make up some value. So, I decided on a bit bigger plates and I will use a few main colors (black, blue, red and maybe some green) that I know won't burn out at cone 10. Yellows, pinks and such lose their brilliance at cone 10 (2345 degrees F). Small plates will be fired to cone 5 (2100-2200 degrees F).

Tuesday night work 6/7/11

Started off the night throwing 6 bowls for Emma. This past weekend, I sat and trimmed 16 pieces... 6 bowls and 10 plates. It took forever partly because they were too dry and partly because there were so many. It was very hard to maintain my concentration while doing this. Thank goodness for other people in the studio to talk to! And thank goodness I can talk and trim at the same time.

I think that I will limit how many small pieces I throw in the future. 6 at a time or so, because the trimming is such a bore and by the time I get to the last one, I almost stop caring about how they look. Not good for someone who is as particular as I am!

After throwing the bowls, I trimmed a vase. I think July will be vase month. More little plates in between.

Ended the night carving. I know it doesn't look like I've gotten very far on this one. I haven't. It's going to take a lot longer than I expected or planned on. I did discuss using China paints on this piece once it's glazed and fired. That way, I might be able to get some skin tones on the mermaid.

Love doing experiments like this.

New Vase and the beginnings of a new project

Last Tuesday night, I had to teach because the teacher for the night was ill. So, I wasn't very productive. I was able to throw a vase though, and use up some left over clay. The wood firing season is winding down. It was definitely longer than last year. We were lucky this year because it's been so wet and rainy. I think we might even be able to fire into August.

At any rate, I will be throwing more vases but mixing up the colors and using regular cone 10 glazes in a regular firing. I might do some reduction fired vases (shinos, black tenmoku and such). Just need to mix up the colors a bit. And vases can be fun.

Last Sunday, I threw 6 bowls for my cousin and her fiancee. I also threw 10 plates. Each piece was bout 1.5 lbs. And...


will eventually have illustrations like the above painted on them. Currently, I have 8 or so dried plates to paint on. The cute Cthulu above is the first of many.

These plates are kind of a new direction in which I'm taking my pottery. Also, I'm trying to prepare for a show called the Alternative Press Expo in October.

Wish me luck!

another vase and bowls completely fired

The latest tall vase. I'm not completely happy with the esthetics of it. I feel like I'm sacrificing good shape and design for size. So, I think I'll be working on making slightly smaller vases and doing the whole shaping thing. They'll be more typical vases, not ones used for ikebana.

11 of the bowls above are from that run of 16 big bowls I made. The two black bowls at the top are from previous firings. The 3 green are glazed with celadon. 2 of them are black. One is black and red.

Now, the bright white bowls with little bits of red were all glazed with copper red, but as you can see, they are not red. The glaze was too thin. Where the glaze pooled in the center is thicker and so it turned red. Hopefully, these will sell.

Woodfiring this week. I cannot wait! Hope to upload some photos of the firing and I'll definitely post photos of the results.

Big ole vase and some carved bowls

Here's a vase. It's a stacker made from 4 cylinders. I wasn't too happy with how it was looking, so, first I 'dinged' it a bit with a wooden stick tool. Still wasn't happy with it, so I cut out some holes in the neck.

I didn't cut the same number of holes into the neck on each side. There are either 1 or 2 holes on each side.

By the time this is fired it should stand about 20 inches tall. 12% is the usual shrink rate, but that's when you get the clay to cone 10 (about 2345 degrees). However, I'm planning to wood fire this, so the temperature is higher and this might shrink a good bit more.

And I needed to carve up some bowls that have been sitting around for a long time. Wasn't up to doing a lot of carving, but I figure some 'big' rather than intricate delicate work was called for last night.

Of Platters, Vases and a tea set

Platters made last night.

More platters. These are for Christmas presents for family. I might have to make more for the next sale. I don't know yet.

Here's the creamer, also made for a friend.

Tea cups.

Sugar jar.

Here's a vase. It's about 16 inches tall or so. It's not quite what I had in mind, but considering how long it's been since I've thrown a vase. This is what we call a 'stacker'. I threw two cylinders and stacked one on top the other. Made sure it was sealed and did a little shaping. Usually, I throw narrower tops and never see the inside. However, since these needed to have a wider top, I can see the insides and not really happy with how the inside looks. Hopefully, I'll get used to it or get better at making these!

And another 'stacker' vase made last night. The bulge is where the two cylinders are attached. I will probably add some more bits of clay to decorate it.

Must make more!