what i made during my second ceramics class
a couple of months ago i shared what i made in my first (hand-building) ceramics class just as i was getting into my 2nd class (first at wheel-throwing). i'm now in my third week of my third class (second at wheel-throwing) and just brought home my final glazed piece from class two. that means it's time to share what i made during my second ceramics class.
- two small mugs, one with a matte white and peach glaze that feels disgusting and one with a glossy blue and tan glaze that's very cute. both have cracking on the bottom, but not through the entire bottom, because i hadn't learned yet how to compress the bottoms. i've not made that same mistake since. i must say, though, that my instructor said i did a beautiful job on the handles!
- a brown bowl with green inside. this bowl came out great and pumagreg uses it now for his water. it's so rewarding to see your beautiful creature drinking water out of a bowl you made with your hands.
- a brown three-handled bowl/cup thing that is tan on the inside. i love this glaze combo and its dumb handles. i use it to hold my everyday rings and earrings so i can grab and leave them as i come and go outside. i accidentally warped the roundness of it while putting handles on, so i learned to double check that after making any additions/adjustments.
- a matte black cauldron-like bowl with shiny white glaze on the inside and around the rim and upper body. i wanted to try the matte black glaze but was overzealous with the shiny white because i hated the matte peach/white mug so much lol. fortunately, the black glaze came out very nice and i'll definitely use it again. i plan to use th is as a candle stick/votive tray of sorts.
throwing on the wheel is really fun, but it's more difficult because physics makes a stronger presence in this craft than most others i've worked in. for one, your hands need to facilitate a centripetal force that balances the centrifugal force from the spinning wheel (which varies in speed depending on what part of the process you're in) so that the clay doesn't fly off into the sun. then there's the addition of water in reducing friction between the hands and the clay as it spins. like in most artisan work, there's a lot of science happening - and i just talked about what happens on the wheel, the art and science of glazing is something i've not even scratched the surface on.
the left mug is that peach and white matte one, and the one next to it is my brown three-handled freak. what you see is never quite what you get when glazing, color or drippiness.
in my current class, learned that i was throwing left-handed but on a right-hand spinning wheel. it took a couple of days of practice to use the right hand/spin combination and found that i'm pretty comfortable using either way. i prefer pulling left-handed and everything else right-handed, and the wheel has a switch to change the spin whenever i feel like. i've caught myself going left-handed a few other times, and my hypothesis is that as i've improved my grip strength in aerial yoga and weight-lifting, my body knows i can use my left-hand more efficiently than before. anyway, this is a post about ceramics and not my beautiful freak show machine of a body.
besides how to actually center and pull clay on a wheel, i learned in this class that i do not like the texture of thick matte glazes. i also learned that putting three handles on a piece is really funny and i am absolutely continuing that. i can hardly wait to show you what i've been throwing lately, but you can see progress and more pre-fire shots in my weekly retros. i'll be back with a "what i made during my third ceramics class" post in early may probably.
xoxo jenn