Shot glasses and Pitchers

I haven't been able to get into the studio as much as I would like lately, but I've gotten a few new things in the works. I had fun throwing all of those shot glass size test tiles, so I thought I'd make a few more. I really like the way these turned out, and I'm going to make a bunch more when I get some more clay. I'm totally out of clay--except for a half bucket of reclaim, but that takes a couple of days to get back.

How many times can you reclaim clay? I'm sure that some of the slop I have has been thrown about 4 or 5 times, and it is super great to throw now . The only problem is that is smells terrible!! It's nice and moldy, has great plasticity and stands up really well. But, man does it stink! Just curious really :)


These pitchers are fun to make, but I think they need some more work. Something isn't right with them. I tried making the handles that were thick at both ends, but I think these feel too heavy. I also wonder if I should push the form a little more--maybe more bulbous at the base with a longer neck. Tell me what you think. I'm looking for a serious critique here, so go all out--I'm tough!

I hope to get a few more tests mixed up and maybe a glaze firing done early next week. Changing my whole glaze pallet and all new forms really seem to have slowed my production. I can't wait to get some tests done! I'm really waiting on my black iron oxide to come in off of backorder. On my test cups, I plan to paint it in the carvings under the glaze and also paint the same on the reverse side on top of the glaze. I want to have some surface decoration on all of my pots, but I'm no paiter, or drawer (is that really a word) for that matter, so I want to do some basic decoration. I also can't quit dipping and spraying pots, so my decoration has to be in addition to the glazing.

Lindsay's first ultrasound appointment is on next Wednesday, and I'm taking off work to go with her. We are so excited!

Finally! (For two reasons)

The first news is really the more exciting tidbit, Lindsay is pregnant!!!! If you didn't know, we have been trying for almost a year, and just found out Friday night after a party at our neighbors' house.

The second exciting bit of news is that my glaze chemicals came in! I am going to make my list of tests after this post, and get to work tomorrow night mixing them up!

Well, that's all for now. Have a great week!

Ok, so here is my tagging thing. Enjoy!

Here are the rules of tagging:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog. (this is what you're now reading.)

3. Write 6 random things about yourself (see below).

4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them. (This is only a game.)

5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

Six random things about myself:

1. I got married when I was 19.
2. I once wanted to be an engineer, even majored in it for a few semesters.
3. I am a car guy, and have been restoring a 67 mustang with my father for about 10 years (kinda stalled on that one)
4. I am a Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan, and have read the Harry Potter books all at least twice.
5. I don't like lettuce because of its texture
6. I have a puggle who likes to make noises like a gremlin (not the car).


I am tagging the following.

Maku Studio
Judi Tavil
Lapella Art
The Mudd Pit
Mike's Pots
Alina Hayes

New shelves--already full!

Is the weekend over already??? I have been having a fantastic weekend, mostly sleeping, and napping, and a lot of time in clay. Lindsay and I took Layla (our little dog) to my FIL's pool and swam Sat. I wish that I had pictures of that! She is not the biggest fan of the pool, but she likes to be held in the water, sort of. As soon as you let her go, she swims as fast as she can to the stairs. We then watched Clemson LOSE to Alabama and had a grand ol' time. Sunday consisted of church and napping, but I did load a bisque and got it firing last night. I crammed all of my test cups in with a ton of other work (who knew 7 cu. ft. could hold that much), then built some new shelves that I filled today with all of that bisque.


I also got a new tool that no potter should be without (at least one mixing his own glazes)--a triple beam balance. I got it on feeBay, and it arrived Friday. Now all I need is my chemicals--I'll call about that tomorrow.

Let me know what you think about the new font/colors. I wanted to keep the black background, but I want my blog to be easy to read too.

So, anyways, I need to do that tagging thing, but I'm not into it right now. Tomorrow for sure though!

Who says test tiles have to be flat?

I have come to a decision on my test tiles--shot glasses! Well, not exactly shot glasses. I'm not going to trim them like I would if I were selling them. I balled up around 50, 1/2 lb. balls to make these guys, and I got half of them done tonight. I didn't get started until 7:30 and only worked until about 9. Not too bad--I had fun seeing how fast I was going--a little less than 2 min. per.

I really suck at throwing off the hump. I tried throwing little cylinders without bottoms, but they were turning out really bad, so I made these guys. I'm going to carve in them like I do my bigger cups to get an idea of how glazes will break over the texture.

I've got to fire a bisque soon--the whole bottom shelf is greenware, and I've got a good amount more stashed around the studio. It's still super humid outside, so most of it is not bone dry yet.

My wheel is in terrible shape already--why do I even bother. I wish that I could just roll it outside and hose it off, but I'm pretty sure the motor wouldn't appreciate it. Same goes for the floor. I can't wait to build a real studio--one with a drain in the middle. I'm working in my seriously small one car garage, and part of it is dedicated to the water heater and a shelf unit filled with random crap. What would a garage be without some random crap?

Exciting news! Carolina has it's first game of the season tomorrow night, and for those in the Southeast, it will be televised at 8 on ESPN. We are playing NC State.

Hope everyone's week is going well! Post again soon!

S'more new work

Here are a few more pics of some other new stuff, and even though I said I wouldn't post about it any more, these pieces are faceted--blame Deborah Woods. So anyway, this first picture is of the larger bud vase form that Judy Shreve said that I should make. I'm not as happy with the form, but I'm too lazy to make more tonight. I think it either needs to be taller and straiter, or shorter and squattier (I have now declared that a REAL word). I still need to make a tray and arrange them with the larger one in the middle with several of the smaller vases around it. I really think that it's going to be neat when it's all done, but hand building was always my least successful activity in clay class.


This second picture is a new bowl with the fancy, smancy rolled lip that is so much fun to do. Sorry the picture is a little blurry--it's so damn humid outside that the camera lens is continually fogging up.


This third one is just a bottle, but I kinda like it. I like the relatively straight walls, but I may try it bulged out a little on my next batch. I'm also going to try the spring faceting tomorrow for the first time. We'll see how that goes :)

Lindsay and I have been talking seriously about grad school--both for her and me. She is going to go back and get her masters in education, and then I really, really want to go back and get my MFA, obviously in ceramics. I think she is going to start next fall (hopefully), so that puts me going back in four years (possibly). The scariest thing is really money--we made it through undergrad without any student loans, and I would love it if we could avoid them, but I don't think it is going to be possible. We are still at the early stages of discussing it, but we both really want it to happen. I know she is going back one way or another, but whether or not I go is up in the air. We've still got to look into financial aid and such, but I really hope we can do it! Not to mention we are trying to expand our family, which will put a very welcomed strain on the funds as well. Wish us luck--I'm sure we will figure something out!

(By the way, the pitcher from the last post bit the dust last night. I've only tried a few times to pull handles off the pot, and I've tried on big forms every time--don't ask me why--I'm an idiot. Needless to say, it didn't go too well. It's ok, I'll make more some day)

A new pitcher and bud vase

To go along with my current faceting addiction, here is a couple new forms. I've got about 15 of these little bud vases made, and they are truly cute little guys! The only thing I worry about is if I will be able to sell them for enough. They are really quite small, about 2-1/2" to 3" high, and they are a fare amount of work. I could knock a regular bud vase out in no time, but the faceting adds a good amount of time to the making. It's kinda like fancy mugs--how do you charge enough for the amount of work? You can throw a mug body, trim it, embellish it, handle it and sell it for X amount, or you can throw a 5 pound bowl, take less time to complete and charge five times as much. Oh well, the bud vases are lots of fun to make and hopefully they will sell.

The second new form is a pitcher that is....can you guess? Faceted! I think that I am going to lay off the faceting for a while, mainly because I am getting sick of the word--writing it, saying it--it's just getting annoying. I'm sure reading it is as well :) So the next post will NOT have the word facet in it, I promise!


I think that I'm gonna stick a fat handle right where the smooth rim meets the facet and have it meet the bulge just after it starts. On my next one, I am going to try to keep the neck thinner. While opening up the base, I stuck my big, fat hand in and widened the neck. On the next one, I'm going to use my trusty throwing stick to open up instead.

Well, that's all for tonight. Have a great week! Weekends are always too short aren't they?