Recycled

Even Clayworks recycles! I made some teabowls today with some recycled clay that a friend gave me at clayworks. The consistency is different; it's a bit slimy and not my favorite, but it's good practice and they turned out well. This recycled clay can be either fired to Cone 6 (electric kiln) or Cone 10 (gas kiln). May use these as test glaze teabowls, to try out several glaze combinations. I still like phoenix clay much better.

Sundays wear me out! Didn't have alot of energy to do much more. Will trim these teabowls tomorrow evening and make some kind of form.... hmmm will have to think of what!

Saturday Glazing

All of these were ready to be glazed, so that is how I spent my afternoon. On almost all, I put the blue/green celadon glaze as a base and then some accents with alfred's blue.

This pic shows the 20 plus pieces with the blue/green celadon. A time-consuming process in all.

In the front left of the picture there' sa goblet with some wood ash in it. Wood ash from my parent's fireplace. Sifted it a bit and then I sprinkled it onto a few pieces. Not sure how the blue/green celadon reacts to it yet.

The large yunomi on the right has some wood ash on the inside of it.

Used a bulb syringe to put the alfred's blue on the pot. DIluted the alfred's blue a bit with water, so it's not too thick.

Some more bowls with the glaze combo I mentioned above.

The yunomi in the front of this picture has spotted shino as its base. Some wood ash on the outside too.

Some wood ash on the inside of it.

Finished the day by making a small bowl. I plan on trying some new things in the weeks to come- not sure what that looks like yet. New glazes? new forms? new surface design? Time will tell.

Bowls and Mason Stain

Spent some time today trimming bowls and then etching words onto some leather hard bowls.

Applied some mason stain to bisqued bowls yesterday. While I really like the results of this process, it just takes a long while.

It's worth the time though. I really like how these turn out. Next, I'll glaze these and a bunch more tomorrow. Blue/Green Celadon with some alfred's blue accents.

Papalisa, bowls and more

After talking with my parents, I had this wonderful idea to eat some papalisa soup. Papalisa is a kind of tuber, a kind of potato in Bolivia, and I'm bolivian, so I used some of the papalisa dried soup mix I had and added some potatoes my parents grew in their garden. Papaliza just has this distinctive taste about it. My grandmother (abuela) in bolivia used to make the best papaliza soup. Ahh- the good days. I miss her and my abuelo, and this is the best second I have here in Charlotte. Especially in one of my soup bowls. A glass of wine in a yunomi was a good addition.

Made some bowls in the studio tonight. Am working on some new shapes for bowls. I may alter this form if it doesn't dry too much tomorrow night before class.

Etched some words onto this vase. I like the handles I finally created on it. The vase is a gift for a very, little precious boy. Will write more in time. It's on my shelf drying.

Etched some Epiphany words onto this bowl yesterday. Words from Isaiah. I'm pleased with it so far. I love to etch words onto pieces; it just takes SO much time!

Used this book today to get ideas for some different bowl forms, and it helped!

An altered bowl in the front, plus some other bowls and forms that I've been working on.

Bowls that I etched some words onto. Got some ideas for quotes from Michael Podesta's book "Joy". He's a calligrapher who I met at an Episcopal convention recently.

Made these yunomis this weekend. Will trim them tomorrow. The simple forms are my favorites.

Put handles on these pictures this past weekend. Will make more o f these. Pitchers may be one of my favorite forms of 2011. Yunomis were that in 2010.

Well, on Friday I came into the studio and noticed that all of my throwing tools were missing. This is an unusual thing at Clayworks. The yogurt container that had all of them--- was gone. Hmmm I hope it shows up somewhere. Meanwhile, it meant a very frustrating afternoon. The studio director lent me these tools above to use until I can buy some more of my own. Hope mine weren't stolen, and instead, just inadvertently placed somewhere.

Meanwhile, another potter gave me some these extra tools. How thoughtful! Tools are expensive, and I'll make a trip to Asheville in the next few weeks to buy some extra ribs-- the ribs were what was lost. :( I must say that it's unsettling for something of yours to disappear from your space. Kinda like a robbery.

A tall pitcher-the first of its kind. More of these in the future!