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 :)