#wheel thrown
Added handles tonight!
I’m just really proud of this shape okay It turned out so bellied and round and that’s been really hard for me. Bonus shot of the footrim cause I’m also really happy with it:
Here’s a closeup of the other planter I shared earlier. I did a nice foot rim on this one to help with glaze placement, but totally forgot to do it on the other
My plants are outgrowing their pots. So my solution of course is to make them new pots!
The 2 pictures show the same pot at different stages of drying less than a day apart. Left: leather hard. Right: bone dry. The humidity where I live is super low so my pieces dry out very fast, which is a bit of a blessing and a curse.
On one hand dry pots are important once you fire them. Trapped moisture in the clay can cause the pot to explode when water turns into steam in the kiln. But having things dry out so quickly significantly reduces their working time and can make it hard to do the details I want. I counteracted that recently by getting a humid storage bin I can put my pieces in to keep them from drying as so fast and it’s really helped, especially with more intricate things like my cat and snake mugs.
No classes til September so I’ve really gotta motivate myself into wheel throwing at home.
I have a discord server for me and some friends where we hang out and draw together. I finally got a phone adapter for my tripod so I can stream my pottery instead of just drawing and so far it’s already helped my focus and motivation immensely!
Now that I have an office job I get to have office plants! Here’s my current little menagerie all in pots I made. The snake plant in the blue pot has just about outgrown its pot so I need to make it a new one soon
Here’s little Kiki. Her espresso cup is probably my favorite. The blue glaze I used to accent and line the interior just really tied everything together.
And here’s the real life counterpart:
Third time’s the charm! My previous two attempts didn’t turn out after the glazing firing like I had hoped. This little one is with her forever home with my aunt now.
Here’s her real life counterpart
I just really like how the face on this one is coming along
Pray to the kiln gods for me. Dropped these little guys off at the studio for their final glaze firing. Hopefully everything will go well and they can make their trek out to Oregon next week.
Here’s Jiji! Painting a solid color is nice but the black takes quite a few coats. Can’t wait to put a glossy clear glaze on and really make this cup pop
Here’s Cricket! In person her mouth is so tiny. I really tried to capture that with her cup
Here’s Kiki and her espresso cup. This is still unfired and unglazed so the colors should be darker once she’s all done and closer to her true colors
July 2020
June 2021
Found my photo from last summer when I first attempted turning my aunt’s cats into espresso cups.
It’s an interesting comparison to say the least. I think my wheel throwing has definitely improved. The thickness and cup shape is much more uniform.
As far as the cats themselves go, I did try a more 3D than cartoon approach. And I tried to more closely mimic the face shape and characteristics of the IRL cats. So we’ll see if that pays off when they’re out of the glaze kiln next week!
*snaps fingers*
All painted and ready for the kiln
I forgot to bring the pink underglaze with me to the studio so I’ve still got to paint its nose. But otherwise I’m pretty happy with how this little fella is turning out!
Ready for the bisque firing!
One face started and the other two sketched out on these little espresso cups. I’m trying make the face shapes a bit more dynamic to hopefully better capture their real life counterparts.
Before
After
Just some subtle changes after getting trimmed.
Gonna let them firm up a smidge more and then I can add the handles and start sculpting.
