Mugshot Monday

I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I took Ceramics I this semester.  Well, we sent all our pieces in two weeks ago for firing, and I've gotten some of my stuff back last week.  I'm pretty chuffed.  None of the items are all that great, but it was my first time!  I can see that my stuff got better as time went on.  I really need to work on glazing.  We glazed everything at one shot, so there wasn't really an opportunity to learn from mistakes made there.  I'm trying to work out if I should take Ceramics II next semester.  The schedule of lessons mostly clash with my required courses. I think there's one class that doesn't clash, but it's in the afternoon, and I've got a three hour lesson in the evening on those days as well. If I were a carefree student, I would just do go for it.  However, we're not entirely sure if Mr Milo will have to go work in Boston by then.  If he is around to do the afterschool pick-up, dinner and bedtime routine, I wouldn't be so worried.  But I don't really want to be away for all the time they'd be home after school if I'm doing the solo parent gig again. Hopefully the schedule next Spring will fit better.

Anyway, enough with the rambling.  It is time for Show and Tell!

I think this was my first successful cylinder.  Why would I say that, I hear you thinking.  Mostly because the walls are very uneven, and because it is very squat. I really had trouble getting my cylinders to grow at the beginning.  I had a few failures trying to get my cylinders taller before I decided to call it a win just so that I could say that I actually produced something. 😜

Do you see the adorable cat there? I didn't draw that.  It was actually a drawing by Young Lady.  Isn't it fantastic? She's so good at drawing. I made a copy and transferred it onto the mug before glazing it.  Good thing it was lying down and fit the mug perfectly. lol  I can't remember what I put into the carving to make it stand out.  I filled in the grooves with three different methods, and can't recall which is which.  But I do know that the glaze on top of it is Oribe, which I chose because it is supposed to be a clear glaze.  I'm happy with how it turned out.

The back, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. Totally not the effect I was going for at all. I also discovered that this would technically be considered a lefty mug, because generally, if there is a design that only goes on one part of the mug (as opposed to all around), its supposed to go on the outside, facing away from the drinker, so that others can see it.  I didn't discover this till after I'd done all my carving, but my thinking is that if someone is using the mug, *they* should be the one who gets to be cheered by the design on it, rather than to keep looking at the boring back.  (I tried to make the back interesting, but that was obviously a colossal failure.  On the bright side, the glaze was even all over.  I had messed up the glaze on a few others by moving them too soon, but didn't have time to re-glaze. 

The inside, specifically the bottom, was what I was going for. If my notes were accurate, this was achieved with a layer of Pete's Copper Red with a layer of Oribe over it.

So, that's one of my first pots. I am so excited to see how my bowls turned out on Wednesday.

When you see more of my pots (generic term for vessels made from clay regardless of shape or function), you'll notice a theme when you see all my stuff - "rustic" lol.  That's just a nice way of saying that they're all kinda thick and not refined at all.  Basically I was a wuss and did not dare to go any thinner for fear of ruining them as I needed to produce a minimum number of items. 

I am very glad that I took this course, and would like to continue doing this.  I am seriously considering getting a wheel of my own.

Ok, now back to writing the boring history essay.