 |
| A closer look at the napkin rings |
A bucket of water. A sponge. Assortedribs. A Hydro-Bat. A wiggle wire. Put them together and what have
you got? Well, my afternoon, I suppose. I spent much of today
exploring the wheel... again. I try to avoid the wheel because
although I think it is fun to use I feel as though I am not very good
at it. I know, practice makes better, but I enjoy handbuilding so
why bother? I guess, because I'm stubborn. Today I made a ladle and
napkin rings for the sake of SCIENCE! No, not science... for
displays!
 |
| Throwing from the hump |
I used Standard 112 which is a clay I've never used before. It was nice to throw with and not gritty at all. When it's fired it will be a speckled brown. I threw the ladle using a technique
called “throwing from the hump” where you have a lot more clay
than you need and only use the top portion so that you can throw
several items from the same mound of clay. After I cut the ladle
off, I threw a cylinder to make the napkin rings. I put the fan on
while it was still rotating. I did not want to cut the napkin rings
off with the clay so wet for fear of warping them. I left the
cylinder dry a bit and turned my attention to making the handle for
the ladle. I made a pulled handle and set that
next to the ladle so they could dry together. I'll be attaching them
when they are closer to leather hard.
 |
| Waiting to be united. |
The wiggle wire can be used in a variety of ways. Today I used it to cut napkin rings from a cylinder. This created texture on the sides while leaving the inside and outside of the napkin rings smooth. I plan on glazing it in a way that will bring attention to the pattern caused by the wiggle wire.
It was a busy day running around and
reminding myself how to throw again. To think, I managed to throw
something without getting clay behind my ears. Crazy!
Items I used you should check out:
