Copycat?

I decorated my teapot today!  I used some of the techniques I've been learning in my class with Diana and a few things that I've picked up on my own.  I have to say, it looks so much better than I imagined it would....although the bird is a little elongated because my paper stretched!  But luckily it's following a curve and so I don't think it's too noticeable!  I think the pot resembles Diana's work a little more than it should, not that I'm complaining about that because of course I absolutely LOVE her pieces.  I worry though, that it's more her than me and when exactly is that a problem in the ceramics community?  Mishima of course isn't her and hers alone.  It's an age old technique and there are some amazing potters that use it.  I was sure to use copyright free images.  The talented Diana illustrates her own.  I only wish I was artistic in that way!   I've also been dabbling in multi-media art, including collage for several years now and so the idea of adding decorative ebellishments isn't entirely new to me.

So...am I a copycat or not?  I'll be asking around.

Jumping the Gun...

I'm taking an online pottery course from Diana Fayt, one of my all time favourite potters!  I've been trying to figure out how to "draw" the fine lines on clay almost from the first day I started playing with mud.  I won't tell you the hours I've spent perusing websites and blogs, trying to figure out the technique.  Let's just say I have a long, LONG, list of favourite sites in my bookmark folder!  Anyway, it's not all that complicated and I had actually worked it out on my own before enrolling in this class, though she has some great tips and there's much more to come!  Today I'm posting a picture of the small folded foot platter.  Project #2 (after learning the folded platter technique).  I've sort of jumped the gun and decorated it before she's actually posted our "homework" for the week, but I've been known to be a little impatient...and I have 3 more platters ready to go!

Size Does Matter

I'm trying to set up a blog for the students at the pottery studio I take classes at.  I want it to be a group blog and I think I've finally figured it out.  I hope so.  I've spent a lot of today messing around with that blog...as well as this blog....because if you're reading this now, you can see it's in the very early stages of being a blog at all!  I had another blog a while back.  Not for pottery, but for jewellery.  I tried it.  Didn't like it that much.  The process took too long.  You didn't see any results for such a long time..and it was expensive.  Ridiculously so.   So it seems that clay just might be my thing!  I've been a seamstress, a jeweller, a quilter, a soap maker...tinker, tailor, candlestick maker (in fact, I did make candles for a bit!) and now it's pottery...and I know it was meant to be!

So I blogged.  I also threw a few mugs.  I'm determined to make more than one at a time and I'm attempting to make them similar in size and shape.  Of course it would have been easier to just throw a nice cylindrical mug..maybe a little flare at the lip...but noooooo, I decided I wanted to balloon the bottom two thirds and then define the lip..with a rib...leaving a little line. So far the shape isn't bad, but are they all the same?  Noooo...in fact, I've smashed two of them because there were so insanely huge   I do struggle with size.  I found a sheet that tells me how much clay to use and a size guide for various pieces.  5x3" make me one large mug.  Mine are close..or at least the opening is 3 3/4", but then it's fatter in the middle.  Hmmmm...I wish I was better at gauging the shrinkage.  I'm always amazed at how much smaller pieces are once they're dry and fired.  I'll find out soon enough!

I haven't even started on the handles!

In The Beginning

First post.  I made a teapot today.  My first.  I have to admit that I don't know a lot about making teapots, but thanks to instructional You Tube videos and a number of "how to" books, I managed to finish it!  The good news is everything fit!  The lid fits beautifully, which truthfully, was the thing I struggled with the most.  I see a few things that could be improved upon and I've had a few critiques, which I appreciate.  The knob on the lid is a little bit large...phallic looking, my daughter tells me (egads!)...and the handle might be just a little small in proportion to the pot itself, but all in all, I think it looks pretty neat and tidy.  I suppose that the true test will be pouring a pot full of tea.

But for now, I need to decide how to finish it...sgraffito? mishima? a magnificent glaze (arrggh....I know so little about glazing!).