what i made during my first ceramics class
back in november/december i took an 8-week course on hand-building ceramics, taught by the very cool and talented nish. i had been playing around with air dry clay and realizing i need some in-person instruction and a place to go away from my desk where i can make things with other people in real life, present and undistracted. this class hit the spot. last week i started wheel-throwing and was able to pick up the final 2 pieces i made last semester to reunite them with my other projects, so it's time to share everything i made that first semester.
we started the class with pinch pots. what a surprise it was for me to find a creative endeavor where the grip strength i've built from aerial yoga has come to my great benefit! we pulled handles by hand from hand-rolled coils. my classmate had done wheel throwing and she said this was way harder, but i think that's because she was striving for symmetry which is absolutely harder by hand. i have only used the wheel once, last week, and i would say that process has a way steeper learning curve. we'll see how i feel in a few more weeks of class there.
after pinch pots, we used a slab roller to make a tissue box cover. i love the slab roller, it's so tactile and such a cool mechanical device. i cut a silhouette of pumagreg's head into the top of this and stamped the clay with a little exclamation point stamp my classmate brought to class.
the last piece of the class was a coil pot, which i shaped into a trapezoid and will probably make into a candle. a few weeks ago andy and i took a one-night clock workshop also taught my nish, separate from our class. we used the slab roller to make the face, and i pressed a 3d-printed grid stamp that andy made for me into the slab so i can make a grid paper effect. i did a light wash of white underglaze, painted blue underglaze on the hours, and nish clear-glazed everything for us to pick up a couple weeks later. i am so pleased with how my pixel grid clock came out!
the ceramics studio has become a much-needed third place for me, a place for me to use my hands, be away from screens, and talk to some of the most lovely, creative and generous artists in the community here. i have a lot more to learn and practice, but i've got so many ideas for things to make for the shop beyond just candle vessels. i highly recommend looking for a class near you to try out if you can. if you're in jersey city, check out betty's, they do lots of one-day events if you're not ready to invest in a full or half semester.
xoxo jenn
p.s. i am missing 3 test tiles that i glazed in this post, but they're just pieces of slabs that i tried different textures and glazes on. one is in the bathroom and one is on my desk. there's a third one and i have no idea where it is lol. anyway, you asked.