Long Lost Pieces
Had an incredible day in the ceramics studio today. It's been really rough carving out chunks of time to get there... the thing about ceramics is that you need a minimum of 3 hours to really get grooving, and it's hard for me to block off large chunks of time like that–especially during the crazy week.
But I went into super anti-social mode this weekend and took some time for myself. Locked myself in the ceramics studio all afternoon, and it was glorious.
Threw 4 large mugs. Started out with 1.25 pounds of clay and really wanted to practice throwing a set. Level of difficulty: high. I didn't use the calipers to measure, just eyeballed it, and it turned out OK. 4 large mugs/cups... walls were pretty thin, and they were on the large side, so I was super happy with how they turned out.
Ultimately got a little too excited for them and tried to move them off the bats before they were ready. Disaster. This is what happens when you try to rush anything in the clay studio.
Ended up with putting 2 out of the 4 pieces in reclaim. The above due to rushing. The other due to carelessness. I just put it down a little too hard, and the side crumpled into itself. It was too wet, and I think the walls didn't taper up as they should. Tsk tsk. Lesson learned.
Another incredible lesson: all is not necessarily lost! I've been getting better about recovering a piece even after I think I messed it up beyond repair (off center, uneven pulling, wobby rim, etc.), so that's a fun exercise. Also, I found two (TWO!) plates I threw months ago that I thought were long gone. Look at these beauts:
I was convinced these two were lost forever, so imagine my joy when I found them, after digging in a "these-pieces-will-be-thrown-out-in-a-week" box. Pretty giddy. It's like finding a treasure in a forgotten place. Can't wait to glaze them. Thinking they'll match the most recent pieces: glossy white with the deep indigo / black glaze on top.
