Ceramics

Hi there! Some of you have seen this pic on fb and have heard all about how much I love my ceramics class. Well, it's one of the best parts of my week! I get to zone out and let my hands tell me what to make. It's very meditative and a good way to stir up creativity in other aspects of ones work. Anyway, the picture above features hand built pieces that have been bisque fired, with various treatments of underglaze.

This is how they came out of the kiln with clear glaze! So amazing. I learned a good deal about glaze thickness and how very thick glaze can lift the details from underglaze painting. I prefer the glaze much thinner, almost wiped off in some areas. 

The only thing I don't like is that my octopus bowl wasn't on the finished shelves. There was a kiln filled with glazed goods still firing when I looked, so I'm trying to stay optimistic. Unfortunately, I've had loads of pieces disappear from classes I've taken over the years. Hopefully this one is just hiding, because I'm going to be really disgusted if someone walked off with the piece I put the most work into!

The evening class at the college finished up last week, so I started going to the instructors studio for lessons. It's always fun going to another artists studio and seeing how they organize (or don't!) and the tools they use. The advantage to taking classes from a private studio is that the curriculum is looser, so if I wanted to just make small dishes and doll faces, that's fine. The pieces in the picture above are from the new class, with dark clay coated with underglaze and carved. Hopefully the white stays opaque! I probably should have used white slip, since it has more covering power. I'm excited to see how these turn out!