2nd firing

2nd firing results:

Small yarn bowl #2:
Bottom: Jeff's Red
Top: Ice Blue

Supposedly had a top rim-ring of Dark Metal, however results do not show any such thing. I wonder if I wrote it down and didn't actually do it. There is a mark on the inside bottom, I wonder if I had put a bottom ring.
Inside: Bathroom White

Note: I was pleased with how glassy the top layer of the small bowl was, however not so pleased about the dots showing up. * Must try Ice Blue over turquoise.


 I am very disappointing that there is so little colour on this bowl, except on the foot. I am please about the speckled look, as I might want to use that in the future. But overall, a disappointing small bowl, with underwhelming colour.

#3 Medium-small yarn bowl:
Eggshell Blue bottom, Top rim of dark metal, which was waxed before putting a middle stripe of cream rutile. Inside: cream rutile.

I'm happier with this bowl in that all the mix of colours gives it a bit of dynamic, however I didn't expect the top rim to spread so much. I'm a bit dissapointed with how overall dark it is. I was going for a very neat green / yellow I've seen others achieve. It's interesting to note the bloom patter of blue white in the center however, there was a slight gouge or line in the clay, that I hadn't meant to do. Just enough for some glaze to sink in, and .. the blue blooms are a result. It saves the bowl from being overall hideous.



#4 Shhhh... Now you may speak yarn bowl
Outside: Peach Black over Mamo -
Inside: Rutile over eggshell

re: Tannis showed me a  picture of a pot done by her father with this combo. It turned out canary yellow for him, and he only put the mamo over the top half. I wish now I'd left the bottom half blank, so that I could hopefully see more of a two tone. I'm hoping it doesn't run, she said it was stable, however I did two coats over the whole outside of the bowl. Whereas he'd done only the upper 1/4 in Mamo, and it seemed to run halfway down the bowl. So we'll see what happens. It should be done tomorrow, if it's not already. I am eager to see what happens.

Shhhhh bow before bisquing.

I find that the bowl shaping and the final decorating are my favorite parts. I'm very eager to get into the studio with 6 pleasant shapes to decorate. I've been reading a lot on under-glazing and looking up different decorating technique. The limited studio access and time is driving me bonkers. Why can't I just have a studio to play in for a week! Yeesh!

In the works

Despite all the trouble I've had with this Mom's Bowl #5, I'm very eager to see it done. I had the bowl thrown and drying for about 4 days by the time I finally received the roller for the rim pattern. So by the time I got into the studio, it was fairly hard. I rolled out a large ribbon with the flat roller, then applied this patter via the MKM roller. I scored and added slip. You an see the difference in dryness vie the color in the bowl and rim. I was an absolute moron and forgot to put in needle holes at the time, so did them the next day with the pot even dryer and of course it didn't' work too well, not only that, but OF COURSE my punches came the bloody day after so I made holes using scalpel ect. I checked on it a few days later, and as to be expected there was a good deal of cracking in the ribbon. I did my best to repair what I could. Of course it cracked all the more after that. I can only hope that pieces don't crack completely off in the firings. I haven't been able to recreate this shape since, so... I really am praying this one works out so I can surprise mom with it as a late birthday gift, she doesn't' even know I've started pottery. My plan is to put it on a spinning wheel and spin it while doing "skid marks" of various shades of cream, beige and white. The ribbon I'm still not decided on.. I know I want some areas of the lines and dots to be black, but I think all of it would be too much. Perhaps I can find some grey as well. Anyway. I have my fingers crossed. I was so intent on getting a duplicate to re-do the ribbon on, and hopefully have a better product for mom, that I was so anxious and grumpy that I haven't had any success throwing since. Something always seems to come up. Either games, or massages, or for Saturday, I show up and end up helping out cleaning buckets and sticks.. so that I could get something fired.. which has happened the last two Saturdays. But Murphy's law mom's pot had yet to be bisque. I was so pissed. Oh well. By the time I was done helping, I was so tired, and not in the right emotional state from disappointment that I didn't even try throwing. I'll try again tomorrow, and supposedly the studio will be open all of Easter Monday, so I plan to go in then for a number of hours. 

The "Shhhhh" pot pre-trim and bisque:

Two other small bowls. I was tempted not to bother and just recycle them, but I wanted to play with more glazes. The larger one isn't terrible, it has a nice shape, it's just so tiny. But nicer than the one I made for Meg. The second one.. I only really kept as it's my first example of a double string hole. 

An Intro

An online list of my romance with pottery.

I have recently started taking pottery lessons.
In December of 2015, Meg took me to a wool shop to buy wool to make be a pair of birthday socks. While we were there, I discovered yarn bowls. Meg was very intriged by the ones in the store. I thought they were ugly, I didn't like the shape and they were all brown, and they were $60. So .. I knew she wouldn't be leaving with one. But that solved my "What to get Meg" problem. I started hunting, and couldn't find anything I liked. Online, I finally found the perfect one, however it was a one of a kind and sold. And also in the states.. so wouldn't have been here in time.

One of the places I went looking for bowls was Stoneware Studio, and while there learned that they had classes. So I decided on the spot that if I couldn't buy Meg a bowl I liked, I'd damn well make her one. :) I have kind of wanted to try it for decades.. but kind forgot about it.. along with all my other "I can't afford that" artistic dreams.

My first class was around January 12th, 2016. I went in  to practice before classes and for 5+ hours on Saturdays. By about late February, I had the bowl pictured below delivered. She was so touched, it was all worth it. However that bowl came with a pre-emptive "this is just a prototype". I have a different vision for what I want to give her, I just can't throw what I envision yet. But I couldn't keep the secret of what I was up to any longer. I also plan to have birds perched on the bowl rim, hence the practice birds below.

This blog is to chronicle my pottery throwing journey, including items and glazing. I'm still trying to come up with a system for numbering and identifying my work, as I want to keep track of it all. Now.. I just need to really win the lottery so I can set up my own little studio in behind of a little bungalow. Come onnnn angels! Help me out a little. Dad.. I'm looking at you!!

Jan - Feb 2016
Birds:
1st - Turquoise w/ green accents
2nd - longbird - Bathroom white w/ turquoise stripes
3rd - Bamboo w/ darkmetal eyes
4rth - Rutile. Not impressed, despite this being the best shaped bird.

Notes: Turquoise may work well over or under the bathroom white, giving less bubling, and hopefully giving more sheen/glass look. Play around with this

1st small knitting bowl:
Inside: bathroom white - came out spotted and patchy/thin and thick in diff. parts.
Flowers in base - painted with green from bottle, faded to nasty slime green
outside: Turquoise
Top rim : Rutile - went kind brown note.. some areas seemed to have run over turquoise, unless it was proximity to other pots. Small area came out a nice smooth light yellow-green, experiment with layering turquoise over bathroom white.

* Investigate rutile over turquoise same as bathroom white. May give an interesting effect.

The small knitting bowl and the birds were given as gifts to Meg. I began the pottery class, as I couldn't find a knitting bowl that I liked for her for Xmas, so I decided to make one instead. At the time, the small yarn bowl was as big as I could manage to throw. Can wait for the next few, I'm throwing much larger now.

Meg was nearly in tears, saying this was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. It was well worth it :)