Pottery post

I signed up for pottery in July/August. I was very happy with some stuff and rather sad about others. I have a bunch of potential ideas for next time. I say potential because I went to the studio one day in my free time with the goal of making a couple mugs. And I came out with two bowls, a weird and lumpy vase-dish that I absolutely hated, and an amazingly cool cream jug. The jug and one of the bowls ended up being my favorite things, along with a funky little dish I gave to my honey.

I made a mini canister that would have been high on my list but the lid broke in the kiln.

This dish would have been my favorite but the colours didn't turn out. It was supposed to be blue with black drips on the outside, but the blue turned out to be white. That'll be the last time I use slip to finish anything. The canister turned out but I'm not going to take chances again. I'm hoping I can re-glaze and re-fire some of the pieces I tried to slip.

Here are the rest of the pieces I made:
- flat dish that I kicked while it was still wet, hence the endearing (or not so endearing) lumpy quality.
- heavy little bowl that I striped with slip that didn't end up the blue it claimed to be. This is one of the things I want to re-glaze, although I'm rethinking it since it's heavy enough to kill a man with.
- mini stamped mug and the piece beside it was also part of it but made it way too tall. So I chopped it off. I like the effect, but I should have put a bit more lovin' into smoothing out the edges. It's scrape-your-lip fun to use right now.
- handle-less mug thingy, also heavy. It's a dark blue with yellow around the rim, since the picture quality sucks. I rather liked this except for the weight.
- bottom-heavy pot bellied bowl. I thought I'd hate this but it's grown on me. Something like warts, but more presentable. I like the glazing. I wish I'd gotten rid of a lot of the bottom though. Another paperweight.
- little blue bowl. I'm fairly indifferent about this.
- ugly pink slipped bowl. Let me be the first to say that I despise this piece. I want to smash it. I'm going to save it for a really bad day when throwing things will make me feel better.
- white bowl that's actually dark red with white over. I like some of the over effects. This one had a cool bumpy texture. I gifted this to mom for her birthday.
- ugly thing. I don't know what this thing is, but I hate it like poison. I've already given it away just so that I won't have the opportunity to feel ashamed about breaking it. I hate it that much.
- (blue over navy bowl - no picture because I'm lazy) I love the bowl. It's one of the three things I'm keeping.
- (half white over navy - no picture) I love the jug a little too much. It's one of the other things I'm keeping for me.
- I'm not going to bother taking a picture of the other thing I'm keeping either. It's a plant pot, dark blue with turquoise over and scratches all around the sides, just for fun. It contains a plant, and is in my apartment where I have no such thing as cameras or computers. Just try to imagine it.
- I don't have a picture of it, but I also made a little munchkin bowl thingy, blue with turquoise over top, that I gave to my honey, and which I also like a lot. I've discovered that good glazing can make up for a lot of defects.

All the pieces I made are rather lumpy and heavy. That's one of my other goals for the second time round, I want to make things lighter and more even, and bigger. I'm hoping to make a decent sized serving bowl, some mugs and a couple plates, and a spoon rest or two. I'm sure I'll make at least a couple things I like. And now that I know more about what I'm doing when glazing, that should turn out better too. Expect pottery gifts next christmas people.

I clap my monkey hands for Megan, who let me borrow her digital camera to take most of these.