This month, I came back to the studio after taking a month-long break in December (January comes after December, yes, ground-breaking). I was almost scared that I'd have gotten worse because of lack of practice, but it turns out I felt like I could throw even better than I did before I left.
I went on a trip ✈️ ! And it was fun and I bought some pots (just 2, one in each country I visited). But bottom line I wasn't at home, and I wasn't throwing. I came home and basically was at the studio as soon as jetlag and my schedule allowed it.
Picture me, I'm facing the wheel, with about 900g of clay I just wedged (I wanted to ease back into it, though I've been throwing with less clay this month actually -- let's talk about that later). I'm a little anxious, but mostly excited and I figure whatever happens happens. And it goes so well!
I was more deliberate with my movements, thinking more about my technique (I think because I had been thinking about throwing for a couple of weeks since I missed it), and it really paid off. I also felt a lot more productive than before. More intentionality overall.
So what did I throw?
I didn't start on my dinnerware set... I think I'm putting that off a little bit because there are so many decisions to make. Even though the whole point is that I have to actually start testing so I can make the decisions. It's fine, I'm fine, we're fine.
Lots of bowls
Don't get me wrong, I know I'm not over here running a bowl production, but for a gal like me who's basically only made bud vases for the past few months, this feels like a lot of bowls.
ALL THE BOWLS :)
Bowl shapes are a whole thing. Sometimes I make them too high and then they just feel like they're too deep for anything (you know... you have to go dig for your rice at the bottom of the bowl). And then when they're too wide, if I'm not careful they can get pretty unstable.
I wanted to make bowls that you can eat out of and prep, cook, bake out of (hence the spouty ones). Really sturdy functional bowls. Which brings me back to when I said
though I've been throwing with less clay this month actually -- let's talk about that later
Before this month, I'd been trying to always throw bigger. For the challenge and for practice and because how fun is it to make a massive bowl out of 3kg of clay? It's the most fun. But are the 3kg bowls the most functional? I mean don't get me wrong, I love me a big fat serving bowl, or that one bowl you have on the kitchen counter that holds your lemons and tomatoes and avocados, but they're not pieces I interact with every day. And because of that, they do feel less useful to me.
So I had a goal to throw pieces that were more "manageable": smaller bowls to eat out of, to put your cut onions into while you prep the brocoli (oh yea, welcome to my kitchen), and also bowls that I could price a little more reasonably. Making smaller pieces means: (1) I can make more of them because they take less space and time, (2) they are hopefully more functional and useful, less decorative, and (3) they can make my work more accessible.
So, I give you: ✨ The Bowls ✨ all glazed and finished.
All of this months bowls: raw clay outside, glazed inside
I am really in love with them, and I can't wait to share more pictures!
A series of cups
Despite not starting on my dinnerware set, I did try my hand at repetition throwing once more with a series of cups. I wedged 6 balls, managed to throw 5 cups (I killed one of them, oups), and all 5 made it out of trimming so that was fun for me.
Said five cups after they were trimmed and dipped
One of them unfortunately doesn't look exactly like the other ones (thought let's be real none of them are identical). But that one is particularly different in spirit.
And then I dipped them in my demi porcelain slip. I played with demi porcelain I believe in October (check it out!), and then I used the slip from the trimmings of those pieces to make some Christmas cookie boxes in November. I was quite happy with those first slip explorations, so I wanted to do more. I dipped the cups 3 times, and so there's different layers of opacity of the slip. I quite like that effect.
The porcelain-dipped cup all finished with a blue-y glaze
I also threw smaller cups off the hump for a sake set I was making for my partner (he's been asking for a while.... it needed to happen). I absolutely love how these turned out. The shape, but also the weight of them -- I left them with quite some thickness at the bottom because I wanted them to feel a teeny bit heavy in the hand.
The sake set right after trimming
Again, the cups aren't all the same shapes. I find that particularly hard to accomplish when throwing off the hump since I'm not weighing out different balls of clay for each piece. But I'll make a set of 4 to go with the bottle, and then I think I'll have 2 pairs of similar shapes left. My mom wanted little espresso cups so I think these will be perfect for that.
I tested some of the glazes I got for our dinnerware set on these cups and I quite like the color combo. Next up, I'll have to try overlapping the two colors and see what happens 👀
The sake set all finished!
Last but not least... The Boob Vase (and friends)
Oh yea, that's right, it's the return of the boob vase (version 1 is here and now lives with the most special person). I tried black clay for the first time with my students this month, and I really enjoyed the feel of it. I made this shape after getting a request to demo a bud vase, and I wasn't quite satisfied with it at first. But my friend saw it and right away called out it was a perfect shape for boob vase v2 (v2 -- it's the tech bro in me, sorrynotsorry). So I gave it a shot, and I am so glad I did. Let's all take in the gloriousness of boob vase.
We all have a boob vase inside of our hearts
And then I have these other few pieces I made during class, as demos. So we have the black mug and a bi-color pinch pot.
This month's only two mugs!
I am always so excited to see my pieces out of the kiln, it's for sure the most high-excitement time of the month for me. The other steps of pottery are more relaxing and grounding and so I'm excited for them too but it's not the same kind of energy as you can imagine.
I always have a bunch of stories around the pots, I think about them a lot 😂 and now I'm glad to have a way of sharing those stories with you. Let me know what you think! And I'll see you around the email updates or on Instagram. Feel free to subscribe or follow to stay up to date on the latest!
🤎 Clara