Pottery doings...

[wayfaringwordhack]

Here is a sampling of some of the things I have been making.

Sadly, a lot of the plates shown in this first photo didn't survive (don't know about the yellow one, yet) because they broke during transportation to the pottery studio, which is why I am not happy about our teacher moving downtown. Greenware (unfired pottery) is soooooo fragile.

Also, I did not make the teapot in the center, back row. I bought it bisque-fired from a Lebanese potter who sells the clay he collects on his land; I wanted to test some high-fire glazes on it since we bought 50kg of clay from him. Unfortunately, the piece got too hot and the glaze went practically black instead of the greens and blues, etc. that I had applied.  The water pitcher on the right got broken at Sara's studio; someone touched it and snapped the handle in several pieces.😒

These two teapots ARE mine, and the water pitcher, too, which has that oddly beautiful surface because of burnishing.  The finish won't survive the first firing, though, which is too bad.  It is so sensuous to the touch.

Here is one of the only finished pieces that I felt kind of OK about. It is not bad, but it did not turn out at all like I expected:

 

Exterior

.

Interior

And to finish, a little screenshot from a book I just started reading by Gabriel Kline that captures just the way I felt upon getting my pieces back:

But! It is a process, as the wise have reminded me, and I can definitely learn how to do things better and make the glazing as enchanting as the throwing and trimming.

Comments

[tolcath]

So you made those teapots and what-alls? You are stinkin' talented, woman! Love it!

[wayfaringwordhack]

Thank you, dearie.

[asakiyume]

Of the unfired ones, I really love the one that looks like a gourd or a sea anemone? In the row closest to us? Did that survive firing?

And OMG, your sense of form is amazing! Love those teapots! Love the nipple-top containers!

And this post and your other post about firing have got me thinking about how glazes/finishes are just a whole other, additional set of choices and aesthetics (I mean, I realize that's a "duh" thing to say but...) and how it complicates stuff. Like: there's the form. But then there's what's going to decorate the form.

I've never done pottery for real, but I love looking at it and hearing about ways people have finished pots in the past. Long ago II was writing an adventure story set in Dorset, UK, and I learned about black-burnished ware for that.

Annnnyway--I like the glaze patterning on the bowl you shared here! Love that blue in the center, love the mandala-ness of that interior.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Of the unfired ones, I really love the one that looks like a gourd or a sea anemone? In the row closest to us? Did that survive firing?

I love that one, too (sculpting and carving is my jam, baby!), and YES! YES! YES! It survived. I will glaze it tomorrow. I will keep it oh-so-simple and hope it is beautiful once fired.

[michaelboy]

Glazing always surprises me. How something can look so plain beforehand and then so lovely after firing. You are quite the potter! Nice work and thank you for bringing it out to show.

[queenoftheskies]

Your work is remarkable!

[wayfaringwordhack]

Thank you, dear. I love making them.