mmm candy canes and egg nog

Merry Christmas everyone!! Its been really really cold so i havent been throwing except these last couple days! But anyways heres what ive been up to!

These are some orby/reverse dimple cups that i have been wanting to try out. These are the first ones that i have made and i really want to make more. They are alot of fun because there's so many possibilities for different styles and textures but i can still keep the same basic shape and idea. I plan on working with these alot more in January and hopefully i can come up with some cool ideas! On these cups there are three dimples (thumb, index, and ring finger). I was thinking about making these cups both left and right handed but i think instead i'm just going to make all the cups a size where your hand can fit into the dimples on both sides. If that description didnt make sense, it will once you see the cups in person! Happy Holidays and i hope everyone is having a great break!

The key to throwing quickly is to understand what the clay can and cannot do. You'll understand what i mean once you watch this video. This potter throws a large bowl shape in four-five raises (not counting any coning and counting his rib raises).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzFBpy-LsQY&feature=related

slow week

This week i spent alot of time glazing and loading kilns and not so much time on actually making stuff. i was able to finnish my lidded jar and i started another vase/jar (havent decided yet) today. Here's the jar that i finished this week.

The texture is from a scoring tool that amy got me but ive found myself more interested in the texture it creates rather than its intended use. I like it because it creates more of an organic texture as apposed to the metal rip scrapes that are evenly spread out. I wish the lid on this jar was bigger but i like that it follows the form of the body. I'm not sure if i like the handle but after trying 3 or 4 others i think that this one is the best looking one so far.

Planters?

I threw two forms this week with the idea of a planter in mind. I dont think that I'm going to actually make them into planters but i like practicing throwing larger and working with the techniques.

I like the shape on this one but i wish it was a little thicker because it makes me worry about it breaking. The bottom 1/4 looks a little sketch but i left alot of clay so that i could remove it from the wheel without having to worry about warping the planter. Since i left alot of clay i can just trim it all off next week and hopefully it will look good! I dont like depending on trimming to complete the shape on my pots but with things this big it just seems necessary. Hopefully this year i will be able to  throw and remove pots this big off of the wheel in one day instead of having to wait for them to dry.

This one may seem alot thicker than the other planter but i left the rim alot thicker than the other pot, hoping that it will help with the structure. When i trim this the form of the body will continue,(basically all of that clay at the bottom will be gone). When i trim these i will post more pictures!

I also threw some more cups and a lidded jar this week but i forgot to take pictures whoops!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcHv4I9_oDo&feature=related
A very beautiful form that i really want to try. I'm not sure what it is but if i was going to make something like that i would probably throw it the same...but cut a lid after it is leather hard...if that makes any sense.

More comfy cups!

This week I threw five cups. Three of them at school and the other two at my house. I've had alot of feedback on my previous "comfy cups" and i decided to make some cups that were based off of the feedback. People have commented that the dimples in my cups were too big/ they only fit my hand, and they have said that they don't work for left handed people. With these new cups i have tried to address these problems with my new cups.

I might make some cups with the dimple pattern all the way around the cups but i kind of like how these look. After i do the pattern it leaves the rim off center so when i center it back up the cups looks more organic which looks alot better than the other cups i have made.

Jar/dish idea?

I've been messing around with different ideas and i decided to make a jar/dish sort of piece. I threw 3 cylinders and then made one of them into my idea. Heres the one that i have finnished.

Mainly what i wanted to do was work out a way for the handle/lid/side handles to connect and make sense with the shape of the body. Atleast for this piece i'm not satisfied and i have alot to change and work out. I like my idea but i think that i need to make the lid not look so much bigger than the body and this either means making the lid sit on the inside of the body or have a lid that fits right into the lip of the body, making it more or less seem like the body just continues into the lid, (which would be cool). For this piece i wanted to make the lid handle match the side handles but i think it might be better to just have a knob or a different style. Anyways the things that i want to work on for the piece is the lid and the handle on the lid. I'll keep posting the changes i make so you can see the progession of my thought process.

Heres a fun a video :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fbo7dXO4go
This potter trims his cups when they are completely bone dry and with no clay holding them down. Enjoy!

epic week.

this week has really been testing my throwing ability. Last friday I threw about 45 cups in about 2 hours and just today i threw somewhere between 38-48 cups at empty bowls. (given that i was throwing from 11am-4pm). Throwing this much is teaching me that its not enough to just say "oh guess how much i threw today", because im pretty sure anyone could whip out a crappy pot in a few seconds. The trick is to make something your proud of. Just because you can throw an extreme amount of pots in a day doesnt mean that your a good potter. The trick is to appreciate almost every single pot that you can make instead of just going for quantity. Out of the 45 cups that i threw on friday i will probably end up keeping about 35, which means that i still have alot of work to do. Today i slowly started to grasp the method of throwing off the hump (with the help of matty). It deffinately helps with speed but I'm not particularily proud of alot of the bowls i made but oh well im learning! I didnt get any pictures of the bowls i threw because there wouldnt really be a point at all. But heres a picture of the cups that i threw last friday!

there are some cups that im especially proud of and excited to fire and others not so much. but anyways here they are!

I thought that i would share another video as usual so heres one of my favorites! For those of you that are interested in the method of throwing multiple pieces and putting them all together here is a fun video! This might be how some of the larger pieces were made in the last post that i made but anyways enjoy and let me know what you think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDZULaIw5Cw

Finnishing My Family Project

This week i threw the last of my pitcher set for the family project. I think the form of my pitchers is getting better but i still have alot of work to do. I've gotten some feedback already and i think my main goal for my pitchers is to make a more distinguished pitcher form but also find a handle style that fits the form of the pitcher but is also comfortable. My main focus for these pitchers was to make the handles comfortable to hold (well more comfortable than my last pitchers), which i think i succeeded. But the handles dont really fit the pitchers so in the future I'm going to need to spend more time working on the handles.

I think that the form of the pitcher on the left turned out better than the right but i still am not completely happy. I plan on making alot more in the future until i can accomplish a form that pleases the eye!

Just to save you the time of clicking to read the description. Read this and then watch the video.

"Isaac Button was the last true English country potter. In a day, he could turn a ton of clay into pots. When timed he threw a lump of clay on to the wheel, pulled it high, then cut it off with wire in 22 seconds. In an hour, he could turn out 120 pots. In a day, 1,200.
Isaac Button died in 1969 and his kiln, at Soil Hill, near Halifax, now lies cold and desolate.
In his day, speed was essential. Even before the packaging revolution, household pots and jugs made from clay were treated as disposables. They cost only a few pence. Craftsmen potters had to be quick to earn a living from poorly-paid villagers."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4qdGTFBRJ4

Let me know what you think!!