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Here is a short video of one of the pitchers after they got handles tonight. I'm really starting to like these new[ish] pitchers--particularly where the nice flowing line meets the abrupt angle near the spout. I'm still not 100% sold on the handle placement. I may try moving it down a bit, but I don't know. I think it works pretty well where it is.
I noticed when I got to work and looked at my blog on the computers there that the pitchers all looked squatty compared to what they are really. I guess wide screen monitors have their drawbacks. I wonder what kind of affect that has on online and other digitally submitted work--such as images entered into exhibitions and shows. My 'elegant' pitcher form was totally ruined when viewed in a wide screen format, and I can imagine that all other work may look different on different monitors depending on the screen resolution and aspect ratio.
Here are a few pitchers that I managed to get thrown tonight. I wedged (I managed to get most of the air bubbles out) five balls of clay, but only four made it through. They are five pounds and about 13" tall. I'll handle them tomorrow. All for now :)
We got snow! Like, real snow!! Not that nasty wet stuff that normally falls for a little while and never sticks--this was about 5-6" of fluffy white stuff that even stuck to the roads. I attempted a feeble small snowman, but didn't get very far. We had a blast playing outside yesterday morning, even though Genevieve didn't really know what to think about it. It was all a little too cold for her.
I also finally got my bowl thrown. It did take three bags of clay and several failed attempts before I finally realized that I needed to sit down and use some softer clay. Once I did that, it was a breeze. It wasn't as big as some of the earlier attempts, but it is pretty large nonetheless. I hate to admit it, but in the process of throwing the big bowls, I made the same mistake of accidentally stepping on the wheel and spinning the bowl into oblivion--again. Fool me twice, shame on me I guess.
I also finally made a big bat for trimming wider pieces, but I still need to cut it into a circle. Right now, it is more shaped like a stop sign because I need to borrow a jigsaw from my dad to finish it up. Trimming with it was fun as I tried to keep the edges from nailing my knees while it spun around.
It was nice to get out of my comfort zone throwing the bigger bowls. I had gotten a little too comfortable working in the under five pound range. Now the only problem is that I have those three bags of ruined pots left to re-wedge. I really hate wedging. I think part of the problem is that I am really no good at it. Why is it that I can't get the damn air bubbles out no matter how much I wedge. It is supposed to be the most basic part of being a potter, and I just plain suck at it. Maybe I should really change my kiln fund into a pugmill fund. Or, maybe I'm just lazy.
So, when you accidentally hit the pedal while throwing a two pound bowl and the wheel speeds up--no big deal. When you accidentally hit it with a twelve pound bowl that is a good 24" wide--not so much. I got a custom order last night for a bowl twice as big as the last that I had made for the customer and I was really excited! I am one of the few potters that can really enjoy a custom order--especially when it pushes me to do something that I hadn't tried. Well, I had tried to make bowls that big, but not so successfully (this bowl was essentially done). Anyway, no big deal really--I'll get back to it tomorrow.
I was planning on taking some pics of work in progress, but no go. I did get 8 mug bodies thrown first, but they aren't too interesting. Maybe tomorrow you can see a bowl that dwarfs my wheel :)
