Glazing and Roadkill

Glazed these pieces today. All are glazed with Ron's creme and then the accents (swirls, dots, edge of some plates) are the tahitian glaze.

Greg also was making brushes with his class yet again! He told me a story about visiting roadkill and saying a native american prayer for the roadkill, blessing the spirits and then taking the squirrel hair or whatever kind of animal it is to make a brush. He always has good stories.

And while this pic is a bit blurry, the cup is not. :) This is the top view of a teacup for my friend, Ashley. I asked her if she wanted something written on the outside and she gave me this beautiful quote by Julian of Norwich. The inside is glazed in Ron's green glaze; the outside in Ron's creme. Outside has slip that was poued on and the inside has slip that was put on using a bulb. Words are sgrafittoed around it. It's a short yunomi teacup. Earthen red clay.
Also trimmed a plate today. Trimming plates is not easy. Teacups are much easier. I have so much to learn.

Big Plates and More

I made these on Tuesday night, but will write first about what I learned in class. These are my first big plates. :)

Tuesday night at the studio was a busy one. Ron did a bunch of demos that were incredibly helpful. I am learning lots from his teaching.
This with two different styles of handles. Below pic is not the best, but the handle is twisted.
My big accomplishment of the night was making two big plates. These two have different styles that are hard to see from this pic. I'll trim them tomorrow and take better pictures then too.

Ron also trimmed a yunomi on a chuck. This pic above shows how it is important to pay attention to the symmetry of the yunomi.

Ron also showed us how to make that lip (or whatever it's called) at the top of the pot to support a lid. He always makes things look so easy.

Then he demo'ed (sp?) different styles of lids like this one above.

Then put the lid over this small golf sized ball with paper over it.

Putting the lid over the golf sized ball chuck with paper over it, to prevent the clay sticking to each other creates depth in the lid.

Ron also showed me one of his plates, so I could see how it was trimmed. Front side above; foot of the piece, below.

This is the bottom of the plate. I really like this form. Now I want to make a set of plates that are different forms. What a great night at Clayworks.

Staples

Went to the studio briefly and did some sgrafittoing today. Forgot to take a pic. So, I got to thinking... what will I post? Here it is... these are some of my few staple foods. Hummus, sangria, and chips. For those who know me well, this is no surprise. Hummus has been a staple through the best and worst. This is the trader joe's brand- organic... with little garlic in it. Chips are from there too. Lately, I've eaten more edamame dipped sometimes in soy sauce. Yum! Oh, and one of the best parts is eating this on pottery that's made by me!

New Yunomis and Snow

As I write, it's snowing outside and I even heard thunder awhile ago. Didn't know that snow thunder existed... until now! Hope it snows alot. I grew up in eastern PA and loved snow. As a child, I used to play outside all day when it snowed and dreamed of sleeping outside in a snow fort. Those were the good ole days.

These days the only bad thing about snow is that I don't have a studio in my home and snow could keep me from going to the Clayworks studio. Even so, it wasn't snowing earlier and I was at Clayworks trimming yunomi cups and putting some slip on them. I had plans of putting slip on all five of these and then time passed quickly and I decided to head home because of the prediction of snow. So, the plates are back under plastic.
I was ready for a new design and not sure what to do so I just began to pour the slip on the side of a cup and let it drip. This is the effect I got with the white slip poured first, and then blue slip over that. I really like it. There's nothing on the inside of these. Simple is good; less is more.
As a side note, Tennessee (women's basketball) is playing Vandy as I write. This is a very good thing to watch when it's snowing outside. Are you wearing orange? On the third yunomi I decided to brush white slip on the outside and a bit on the inside and then pour a little of the blue slip all around it, making sure to create a continuous loop of blue.Then I decided to etch the words to one of my favorite songs... love divine all loves excelling-- a song that pretty much sums up God and life. I really like writing- the sgrafitto thing on pottery. It's time consuming, but so peaceful to do this and worth the result.Can't wait to see how these turn out. I think this is my new favorite design on earthen red clay with slip on top. Off to eat lentils. :)