hana's second class

I drove my car to work so that I could drive straight to class after work. Last week I got there ridiculously early, so this time I tried to stay relaxed and head over there at a reasonable time. Last week when I tried to park, all the permit dispensers had covers on them saying not to buy permits that week. This time, I was required to buy a permit. So I drove all over looking for permit machine, and finally found one. Oops, it doesn't take credit cards. I scrounge around for $2, which I found in the form on one dollar bill and four quarters. I stuck in the dollar, then start putting in the quarters. The quarters are rejected, over and over. Fine. I'll go to another permit machine. Oops, the cancel button isn't working. Great, I've lost a dollar.

Since I now no longer had enough money to buy a permit in cash, I realized I had to find an office somewhere on campus that sold permits so that I could use my card. First I had to find visitor parking, and pay 25 cents for a 45 minute permit. (There were signs everywhere that said they will *tow* cars without permits, not just ticket them. Yikes!) Campus is very confusing, there are signs starting you off in the right direction, but then there are no other signs further along the way. I went up some stairs only to find myself at the wrong end of an exit only door. I wandered around strange concrete square building after another (the brutalist architectural style, if you're curious), scooting around construction fencing, and finally found a room that looked like it might have college staff in it. Hooray, success, and the purchase of a quarterly permit for a measly $16. Drive back to the area near my class, scarf down half a tuna sandwich for dinner, and saunter into class only 15 minutes late.

After all that stress, it was nice to slow down and play with dirt. Gary gave a demo on pulling handles, so for about 10 minutes I just pulled handles. It was relaxing. I messed up quite a few, by pulling it unevenly and the thin section giving out and breaking off, but I did get two good handles made that were to go on the two cylinders I made last class. I set them up on the table to start firming up a bit in their proper shape, and then went to play on the wheel.

I had several throwing balls left over from last class, so I was able to just jump in and start throwing. Centering was faster this week, and I had more success on height and purposeful shape this week as well. It was very satisfying. I ended up making another cylinder that might end up being a good size coffee mug (10 ounces?), a fairly large bowl for soup or cereal, and the body of what might end up as a sugar bowl if I can manage a lid for it next week. Gary did another brief demo in the middle of class about making more spherical type shapes, so I was inspired as well. He also showed how to made a recessed area for the lid to sit in, which was like a revelation to me. I made one on my spherical object. Hopefully we'll review lids next week!

Near the end of class, I did some work on my cylinders from last week. I put them on the wheel and used the carving tools to shape a foot on each one. I had forgotten how satisfying this step is. I like the spiral streamers of clay that come off. Then I took the cylinders back to the table to attach the handles. Gary has a slightly different method for this from my other teachers as well. I tried one handle using my old method, and one using Gary's. It's not that terribly different, but still, it's interesting how many different ways there are to do stuff.

Then, it was time to clean up. I washed off my wheel and my table, and set my two cylinders-now-mugs on the bisque rack to be bisque fired. Good day.