Tuesday, March 31, 2009

non beau tankerous bowls

Howdy all! I have decided that it is just as easy to make a new post in order to respond to comments. That will be my way of giving you feedback for the issues that come up outside of class time. So please don't hesitate to raise any questions that you need my help with.




These are only some of the bowls we looked at on Monday. I wasn't able to get the other images to work well enough to post, but they are still in Julie's space should you need to look at them.





























































So, the assignment is to explore a few bowl forms this week, paying attention to a broad range of details and how they effect perception and use of the pot. Try as many ideas as you are interested in. There is no such thing as a mistake if it is something you learned from, so be adventurous and attempt things that may even seem extreme to your normal approach to pot making. Next Monday we will see what folks came up with and decide what worked best, what didn't, how some things may be tweeked, and what elements are worth taking as a starting point for further investigation. The next week's assignment will be to explore those qualities and details that appealed to you. Have fun and don't hold back! Its only clay after all.









5 comments:

  1. monday was another fun class. i love the bowls you brought in. i was completely inspired by g.pickett's pots and by getting to see, touch, and TURN OVER the whole collection. thanks for sharing! I was so inspired by the feet on some of these bowls and so appreciated very much your exercise of making 5 different feet off the hump, with no pot attached to them. that was yet another of those great exercises that you come up with that are both freeing and instructive and that have made me into a much better thrower.

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  2. Thanks Juana. I so love teaching this kind of class. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing my students take on these issues and evolve into more serious artists. The more I can help you guys get comfortable with the clay, feel free to experiment, and apreciate how even small details can make a large impact the better I feel I have done my job as your instructor. Thanks for taking my advice and suggestions to heart. I can only tell you what I feel you need to hear at a certain stage in your developement. YOU have to do all the hard work of making sense of it and deciding how you want to apply it in your own work. Keep up the good work and thanks for being such a great student!

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  3. Yes, I also really liked the trim exercise, and plan to use that technique when I have a challenging foot to do, or want to come up with a new idea, or have new tools to try or try old tool new ways--without worry about ruining something. Love it! Thanks Carter.

    Monday I was glad to be there, with my Real Estate coursework done I felt I could focus on some pottery again! (And by the way, I found out last night I passed the Exam so have fulfilled all my requirements withing the deadline I had to be complete by April 1st. Wooohooo!)I came back Tuesday and even made more mugs plus two bowls! I'll catch up a bit i think. I also promised (in front of Julie as witness) that I would commit to trim these mugs AND put handles on them. I found the mugs to still feel more botankerous than I liked (before trimming)Rob suggested trying a different hand postition. I did this on the last bowl I was working on, and think I got slightly better results. It seemed like I could feel the thickness of the pot better with my hands parallel to each other rather than 90 degrees to each other. Maybe if I try this with several pots in a row I will find a comfortable hand position. Rob also suggested that I may want to try some porcelain in the wood kiln...YESSSSSSSSSS! Loved the stuff that came out of the wood firing!!!! Rob, I hope you have room for me to put several test pieces in!!! Thank you!

    Carter, though I'm not yet ready to put handles on my bowls as I'm still working on the mug thing, if you have a chance, posting Jeff's 3 examples of handles that you showed us would be helpful. I would like to try all three. I'm also interested in finding a deep bowl shape besides JP's that I might be inspired by. I'm not sure if my "mug" shape theme would be able to be translated to a bowl shape to explore. Maybe you would have some suggestions.

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  4. Hi All, Geoff Pickett here.
    This is the answer to the question posted by Juana March 24th. The recipe used on that bowl is McKenzie Amber, on porcelain cone 10 gas reduction. I love this glaze as it will show satin and shiny on the same pot. However, when it tends to be shiny it runs really badly and will fuse to the kiln shelf.
    Here is the recipe:
    Mixed hardwood ash..........22%
    Whiting.....................17
    Potash Felspar..............41
    Ball Clay....................3.5
    Silica......................16.5
    _______________________________________________
    Red iron oxide...............8%

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  5. wow. this is so great! thanks, geoff for your answer to my comment and for the recipe. hopefully i will get to use this glaze some day.

    i love ash glazes. i love them matte and shiny. better yet, i love when they are BOTH matte and shiny in the same pot. i love their warm tones and how they run, the vertical patterns they imprint on the surface of the pot and how they play on the horizontal ridges and turns of the clay.

    what temperature do you fire this glaze at? do you use it in your gas kiln or in the wood kiln? lovely glaze!

    i am sorry i missed your workshop. i have been asking a lot of questions to those who made it. hopefully i will have an oportunity to watch you throw in the future. it has been so great to have your demo pots and your old pots in the studio this week. that, together with the inspired students you demosntrated to, have been a huge inspiration for my recent throwing. so thanks!

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