Let the Beauty of what you Love be what you Do...
~Rumi

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Works in Progress!

Well, I'm happy to report I'm getting into the swing of things in my micaceous pottery class. Each pot/bowl is hand built using the traditional coil method. These are all works in progress-  they still need to be scraped, sanded, burnished, slip applied & fired (whew! that's a lot of steps to go!) But I am so excited about it, I thought I'd post anyhow.
:)
Our first project was to make a bean pot. I had some trouble with shaping on this one, as the way I had learned before was to use a paddle which helps guide the clay into shape. But, we are learning the more traditional way of pot making, in which paddles are not used... only small wooden ribs. That said, I'd say my first effort wasn't too bad.


Our 2nd assignment was bowls. I had a lot of fun with this assignment, and had the time to do a few of them. I'm thinking the bowl below would work well as a rice dish, or some other sort of side dish.


Below left, a decent sized serving bowl~ perhaps for salad.
Below right, same style, only smaller.


Today the fun really began, as I had the day off & it's open studio time... so I could just go in & work on whatever I wanted. And I really wanted to work on symmetry with this new (to me) method. (After all what is a wooden rib but a tiny little paddle!) It actually went quite well, and I decided to go for an enclosed form~ which will later be a lidded pot. There is something about the roundness of this form that I find soooo appealing!


I experimented with different types of handles for the lid... but not quite coming up with something I liked, I thought what the heck... I'll use a bear for a handle! (Ha! Not surprised one bit are you?!) 


It's actually a little large for the form, & I thought about starting over & making it smaller, but then thought nope- I'll just leave it as is... perhaps it will make for an interesting piece. 
:)

12 comments:

Annie said...

Wow! I am speechless. You made all those bowls, handbuilt in just a few days! That would take me weeks with my porcelain! I love them all, but the bear bowl rocks :-).
Have fun!
It was great talking! xoxo

TrevorW�� said...

Amazed here at what you can do...those bowls look so good....

-Trevor

Kate said...

Looks like lots of work is involved.

Barb said...

Perfection! A bear lid! You sound so upbeat, Becky. I can tell you love that bowl making. I so enjoy seeing the progress. PS It's snowing hard here - it may be a powder day tomorrow!

Lisa said...

Becky I love them. So glad to see your back at your love.
xoxo

Pat said...

What a clever idea to use a bear for the handle! How cute is that?

BTW - didn't you see me wave as we drove by Santa Fe?

marianne said...

these look amazing- i could never tell that you were challenged! can't wait to see the next steps. and the bear handle is perfect- it will be interesting.

Dad said...

Yahoo and Yippee back to the micaceous pots. You do so well with them. Love the shape of the side dish bowl.

clairz said...

I am going to like this class! I love the shapes so far, and I can't wait to see how they look after firing.

Randy said...

I can't wait to see the finished piece with the bear lid! Actually I can't wait to see them all. Have a ball Becky!

Rick said...

Those bowls look great - nice top (fringe ?) on them - amazing you did those by hand ! And yes, the pot with the bear lid is a definite crowd pleaser !

snowwhite said...

your pots look like Sakura, cherry blossoms, both shape and color. They are blessed with the essence of joyful spring. I love that bear too.