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So I got my wisdom teeth out today and it wasn't terrible. Not something I would want to do on a regular basis, but all things considered it was tolerable. I don't remember falling asleep, but I woke up all kinds of screwy. I took a pic of my swollen face right after surgery with my phone, but I can't upload it here. I did get sick a little earlier tonight, but I'm feeling ok now. Really, the nausea is far worse than the pain.
Anyway, I've got a couple of days to recover and I plan on doing a whole lot of nothing. I did manage to get the kiln unloaded tonight (bending over the kiln is not a good idea by the way, but I'm just so impatient) and mostly everything turned out very well--just one bowl with some bloating. My custom bowl order came out really well, so that's exciting. I'm hoping that tomorrow I will be feeling better enough that I can get a few pots photographed and uploaded to Etsy.
And lastly, I had my trimming box featured over at the granddaddy of all pottery blogs--Emily Murphy's wonderfully informative blog. Thanks so much Emily!!
Just a lazy and rainy Saturday I guess.
Well, really just pot in use, but that doesn't sound right.
Today is Lindsay's 25th birthday (Happy Birthday Sweetie!) and I got her these wonderful flowers and put them in one of my new vases. The kitchen is a bad place for taking pictures and I'm no flower arranger, but I think it looks nice. I'm pretty sure I had more to say tonight, but I'm exhausted and can't remember now. Oh yeah! I put up shelving at work today in my office to have somewhat of a gallery there. I should have packed up a bunch of pots tonight to bring down there, but that didn't happen. Neither did cleaning the kitchen, or laundry, or listing pots on Etsy, or pressure washing the house in preparation for Lindsay's party.
Oh, and one more thing--I keep forgetting that I have an appointment on the 20th to get all of my wisdom teeth out. I've got two that aren't too bad, but the other two are growing into the teeth in front of them. And they are moving really close to some nerve that apparently controls the feeling of my bottom jaw. Lets hope the doctor doesn't clip that little guy.
Anyway, all for now.
I'm really digging these new altered forms with the small trimmed foot. It seems to work equally well for both cups and bowls and they are super fun to make--I get to use all of my fun tools, and lots of trimming (see full trimming box below after a dozen little cups--have I mentioned that I like trimming?). I guess you could call the little cups yunomis, but I like to think of them in terms of bourbon over tea, but imagine whatever use you decide ;) I'm actually looking forward to keeping a couple of these little guys for myself. I tend to just keep the crappy leftovers for myself--the ones that aren't bad enough to smash, but not good enough to sell. My cabinet is a hodge podge of really good pots from other potters and really bad pots from myself. I need to remedy that.
I know a lot of potters hate trimming and I just have to say--trimming is awesome! I really think I like trimming almost as much as I like throwing--or turning--I think I want to start calling it turning now, but that's another story. Just look at the difference between these pots--and that one isn't even one of the better ones I've done recently! I know not all pots need trimming, but it really adds so much to a piece and makes it more complete. My trimming box and Griffin Grip sure help too. Anyway, just some random thoughts on a Sunday evening.
Crazing seems to always be somewhat of a debated topic among potters. I have always been a fan of it whether on functional work or not. Never one for safety it seems, I never really worried about it. Now that I'm selling my pots and people are (hopefully) using them on a regular basis, I need to focus on the safety of my wares.
The way I understand it, crazing is cracks in the glaze due to poor fit that can make the pot somewhat weaker and can also harbor bacteria in these small cracks. I have also been told that if your wares are not fully vitrified, they can allow moisture to absorb into the clay body and either get hot when microwaved or even break. They can even make otherwise safe glazes leech.
With that said, I use many pots daily (both pots made by me as well as other potters--some of them very well known) that have crazing and go through the dishwasher at least weekly and make their way into the microwave on a regular basis. I've never had any trouble and I never really worried about it. But then again, it's not me that I'm worried about. The way that I see it is that my pots are fully vitrified (I use cone 5 clay and bring it to almost a full cone 7--it slumps if too large of an unsupported span is made) and the crazing seems to largely be on the outside of pots where the two glazes overlap. The only exception to this is a few new bowls that I made where the overlapping glazes crazed some on the inside as well. The weird thing is that things have been crazing more than they used to--same clay, same glazes, same application. Here's one of the heaviest crazed pieces:
I know that a lot of woodfired and atmospheric fired work crazes, particularly shinos, and these pots are used regularly. I've even seen commercial wares with crazing that are said to be food safe and such--hell, some old plates we got for wedding gifts are crazed pretty severely.
So...what should I do? Should I try some new clay bodies with my existing glazes, or try to reformulate the glaze to get it to fit my clay body. Or, should I just not worry about it and keep on doin what I'm doin? I'm finally getting some really good glaze affects and I'm not super excited about changing things up, but I know that I should get it sorted out now rather than later. Any input is really appreciated. Thanks!!!
