rebeccmeister (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rebeccmeister) wrote2018-06-08 09:28 am
rebeccmeister) wrote2018-06-08 09:28 am
Entry tags:
Ceramics again
(hmm, I should come up with a ceramics-themed user icon)
I was nervous with anticipation about going to ceramics yesterday, because I knew I had more pieces to pick up and was worried about how the glazes would come out.
I'm happy to report that I'm altogether quite happy with the outcome.
My favorite piece, which didn't go *quite* as expected, is this dragonfly bowl:
It's somewhere between 12-14" across, for a sense of scale. I was hoping the dragonfly would come out more clearly, but as it stands instead it looks like a fossilized dragonfly, which is an equally cool image. The Cherie Jade glaze also behaved nicely with the Rod's Bod clay. I have a couple more bowls I want to decorate, so given the way this one turned out, I will still want to think about other decorating options - i.e. perhaps "brilliant black stain" instead of the iron oxide.
Waffle iron handles. I'll spend more quality time with the waffle iron this weekend. I need to re-wire it in addition to figuring out handle attachment, which is going to require longer screws than previously, and testing to see whether the holes actually line up correctly (based on whether or not the shrinkage rate was accurate).
Less satisfying:
Not only did this piece warp, I don't like the way the Cherie Jade looks on this porcelain (Dave's porcelain). Too yellowish. I'm not heartbroken over it, though. I am resolved to never buy Dave's porcelain again. I greatly prefer Coleman, which is what I have used in the past.
I screwed up the lip of this next plant pot when taking it off the wheel, but here's evidence that a good glaze job can make minor imperfections seem irrelevant:
Wacky/experimental colors on a decidedly lumpy plant pot:
Bland again, but not in a bad way, altogether:
Last night while I was throwing, another student came in from the glaze area outside because she had just dipped her piece into a glaze, and a whole bunch of "baby bees" came out. Her piece was a small, conical shape - the roof for a small fairy house, about 4 inches across, which was hollow with a bunch of small holes poked around the base. Looking it up later, I figured out that her "baby bees" were a bunch of leafcutter bees. Little did she know that the bees would think it was a wonderful house, too, haha.
Most of the students in the class are repeats from the last session, which is nice because it feels more like a community this time instead of a random group of strangers. Over the course of talking about bees, I also learned that our instructor knew my former labmate D, from the early ceramics days (2003-2004). She said my stories about working with Africanized bees in Arizona reminded her of someone else who had worked with Africanized bees - because she knew D, and I'd helped D with her experiments during my first year or so of grad school. The studio here is a special place.
I was nervous with anticipation about going to ceramics yesterday, because I knew I had more pieces to pick up and was worried about how the glazes would come out.
I'm happy to report that I'm altogether quite happy with the outcome.
My favorite piece, which didn't go *quite* as expected, is this dragonfly bowl:
It's somewhere between 12-14" across, for a sense of scale. I was hoping the dragonfly would come out more clearly, but as it stands instead it looks like a fossilized dragonfly, which is an equally cool image. The Cherie Jade glaze also behaved nicely with the Rod's Bod clay. I have a couple more bowls I want to decorate, so given the way this one turned out, I will still want to think about other decorating options - i.e. perhaps "brilliant black stain" instead of the iron oxide.
Waffle iron handles. I'll spend more quality time with the waffle iron this weekend. I need to re-wire it in addition to figuring out handle attachment, which is going to require longer screws than previously, and testing to see whether the holes actually line up correctly (based on whether or not the shrinkage rate was accurate).
Less satisfying:
Not only did this piece warp, I don't like the way the Cherie Jade looks on this porcelain (Dave's porcelain). Too yellowish. I'm not heartbroken over it, though. I am resolved to never buy Dave's porcelain again. I greatly prefer Coleman, which is what I have used in the past.
I screwed up the lip of this next plant pot when taking it off the wheel, but here's evidence that a good glaze job can make minor imperfections seem irrelevant:
Wacky/experimental colors on a decidedly lumpy plant pot:
Bland again, but not in a bad way, altogether:
Last night while I was throwing, another student came in from the glaze area outside because she had just dipped her piece into a glaze, and a whole bunch of "baby bees" came out. Her piece was a small, conical shape - the roof for a small fairy house, about 4 inches across, which was hollow with a bunch of small holes poked around the base. Looking it up later, I figured out that her "baby bees" were a bunch of leafcutter bees. Little did she know that the bees would think it was a wonderful house, too, haha.
Most of the students in the class are repeats from the last session, which is nice because it feels more like a community this time instead of a random group of strangers. Over the course of talking about bees, I also learned that our instructor knew my former labmate D, from the early ceramics days (2003-2004). She said my stories about working with Africanized bees in Arizona reminded her of someone else who had worked with Africanized bees - because she knew D, and I'd helped D with her experiments during my first year or so of grad school. The studio here is a special place.