Friday, February 27, 2009

empty bowls




Finally did a glaze firing of just my work. Everything turned out well. I had to use Thor's hammer to smash a couple of rejects. I'm trying out a new glaze, sea foam green. The glaze produces different shades from green to light red. I think I might stick with my earthy colors and use this glaze on some pots. The empty bowls fundraise was tonight. They had a great turn out and most of the bowls were bought. Its a good feeling to know you can do something you love and help out others.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Busy Week

This has been a busy week. The kiln firing turn out good. The bowls were spectacular. I will be doing another one this week. We have to have all the bowls done by this Friday. I went bowling with my fellow adjuncts on Friday night. It was a fun outing. I won the second game. On Saturday morning I helped out with a church kid's workshop. They made clay mask, tiles and pinch pots. The kids were creative and great. In class this week we'll have another critique and start another project. I need to start cranking out the work. I'm thinking about trying larger work and try stacking pots. I'll see how that goes with the porcelain.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

follow up



Here are some pics of my students work:









Preview of the gas kiln:








Saturday, February 7, 2009

like riding a bike

On Thursday my two classes had their first critique. Overall everyone did a good job. It was tough grading at first, but I think I was fair. Since it was their first assignment I went easy on them. I'll try to post some pics of their work. Fired the gas kiln off Friday. It was just like riding a bike. Everything did like it suppose too and I wasn't there half the night waiting on it. The kiln was filled with bowls made for the empty bowls project, so lets hope it turned out ok when I open it up monday. 

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Getting started






I had my two classes this morning. Everyone is finishing their projects and getting ready for their first critque on Thursday. I was going to start the gas kiln today, but I decide not to do it until friday. We're suppose to get some snow, so I didn't want to deal with that and I wanted to sleep in. I'm starting to get back in the flow of making pots. Below are some vases I made today. I really like doing the spirals. I know some other potters do it, but its something I enjoy doing. I am still puzzled how to treat the surfaces. I like doing textures, but I might just let the glazes do their work. Throwing with grolleg porcelain was first a challenge, but I'm getting in the groove now.