Henry has been helping in the pottery lab -- mostly stirring up dust but also encouraging us to enjoy the process or (preferred) take him for a hike down to the water. It’s raining, so he is out of luck. So... instead the pup is supervising Ryan throwing blindfolded as a little side adventure on the wheel.
Here is some of what I've been up to in the last few months.
These fellows are six of my COVID monster series.
The monsters did not seem to stop the neighbors from getting hit with the virus - but so far, Greg and I and our girls (plus Henry) have all avoided the nasty thing and all its variants. Excuse me while I go search for a plank of wood to knock on.
Okay. I'm back.
My pre-retirement life was in a high school with two lovely huge Geil gas kilns. I loved the cone ten reduction but with those years behind me, I am learning the possibilities with cone six firings. The sgrafitto leaf bowl I fired to cone five - but I was unhappy with the underglaze colors. When I refired to cone six I liked what I got. It’s definitely a learning experience for me.
The tan and brown teapot was out of my last cone ten firing. Yes. I do miss those kilns - but it would take me forever to fill them without my five classes of 35 potters - and given the environmental concerns, I guess I wouldn't be firing to cone 10 anymore anyway.
I'm currently focusing on lidded vessels. This is yesterday's pot - but today I discovered a Mark Peters video on you tube for a nifty lid idea. Check it out if you are a lid-challenged potter. It’s titled "An Unconventional Way to Make a Lid."
I'm also working on creating sets of matching size vessels.
The blue-green and white vase was an early attempt with my electric kiln. I was trying a low-fire glaze over a mid-range clay. The cone fell off the holder (oops) and it way over-fired. If I could duplicate that finished surface, I would do a kiln full but I was very lucky that the shelves were well washed. The base did involve a lot of grinding.
And at last - most of the family - no Sue. No Nate. No Henry. :-)
In case you have forgotten, Henry is a good old boy. He barks if a leaf falls in the forest. He thinks the mail carrier is his best friend but he makes crazy run-arounds barking with unmatched enthusiasm when she visits. When Amazon delivers you would think Godzilla is on the approach!
I have been working on lidded containers. I still am struggling a bit - but am having fun with the struggle 😊.
One of my potter friends introduced me to stencils. I’ve been experimenting a bit - I’m not in love with straight stencil but like them when combined with additions. Henry isn’t sure if it’s worth the effort - but he’s a dog. I think I’ll continue experimenting.
