j's 2nd class

Now, this was a special class for me. It was taking place the day before the portland marathon which I was registered to run in. I signed up for pottery for (among other reasons) the opportunity to use this class to calm myself and distract myself from the marathon.... particularly today. It was indeed a good day to play with dirt. :)

I arrived around 9:30am to find the door to the classroom locked. Zach, the instructor, was inside, but poked his head out the door (after I knocked) to let me know he wasn't letting students in yet since he can't leave the ceramics lab unattended, and he would be coming and going for a bit still. I wandered instead around the new MAHB building where they had up several impressive art displays, and studied each for a while, then I went and sat outside and snacked on some salted peanuts I had brought with me. Finally I was bored and went back inside to find other students sitting outside the classroom waiting to be let in. At about 9:55 or so, Zach finally unlocked the door and allowed us entrance.

The class started with a little hand-building demo where Zach showed us the steps to make this asian-looking rectangular tray with feet. He talked about how to use your needle tool to scratch a design in the leather hard surface and then after bisque firing use a stain wash to bring the design out under a clear or translucent glaze. He suggested, if we want to make larger hand-built items, to roll out slabs at the beginning of class and letting them set for a while before we use them so they can firm up. He also recommended rolling out a rope of clay, and pushing that and smoothing that into any join between 2 slabs to give a nice, clean, finished corner without a gap. This is particularly a good idea if the item is supposed to hold a liquid (i.e. a cup, bowl, or vase).

After watching the demo, I was interested in trying some of these techniques Zach showed us, and admittedly I liked the tray design that he was using, so I decided to attempt my own version of this tray. Monkey see, monkey do. I figured it was good practice, and from there I could assimilate these new techniques into other things. Following the demo I used the slab roller and made myself a couple slabs that I left out to harden up a bit.

After this I went ahead and set myself up at a wheel. I did not feel calm enough to attempt to throw anything at the wheel today, so I left that alone. I was planning on trimming the 2 bowls I threw last class. Before I had a chance to start trimming tho, Zach had set himself up at a kick wheel for a quick wheel-throwing demo.

He quickly centered the lump, but was having issues centering the bottom of it (he claimed in his haste he failed to knead the clay well, and that was the issue). He said he was going to "throw off the hump" instead, and began working the centered clay ABOVE the bit that was wonky. He let the uncentered wonk just be, and pretended it wasn't even there. That was interesting. He showed how he made the initial hole with his middle finger (not his thumb like I normally do), and hooked his finger under to do the initial opening of the clay. Behind him he had a display of cross sections of clay showing what the lump should look like at each step of the process of the initial opening. This was actually a neat reference guide. He then explained the various pressure he exerted on the clay to make it stay up straight. I was noticing I was unable to throw a cylinder last class, and instead seemed to always pull out a bowl form initially, so this is something I hope to try next class.

Once he was done with his cylinder (the size of a large coffee mug), he wire tooled it off the wheel and placed it on the edge of the wheel, then turned that around towards us (the students), and then wire tooled open the cylinder to reveal the cross section and show off the perfectly consistent wall thickness throughout the form. He also admitted that everyone needs to find their own style, so play with it and figure out what works for you. Demo complete.

Some students boldly made themselves some balls to throw with to attempt the wheel for the first time. I sat down with my tools to trim. I had to remove alot of clay from the base (I could have cut into the base a bit when I initially threw the forms to make this less of a chore... I'll try to remember that next time). It took me a while, but I finally had two bases on the bowls that I approved of. I decorated both with a little engobe for fun, carved my name in the bottom, and set them on a shelf to dry out.

I also moved my test tiles and the wonky mug from last week to the bisque cart after scratching my name on them.

After this I came back to the slabs I had out. I carefully cut out the forms from the slab, took some smelly slip from the slop sink to use in attaching the slabs, and carefully went about assembling the tray. I got alot of compliments on my project while I was focussed on it, and I thought that was weird since, um, it was more or less the exact same design as the course instructor's demo, but oh well. Once I got to the step where I was supposed to roll out the rope of clay and seal the join, I couldn't do it. I don't know why, but I wasn't comfortable shoving a rope of clay into the corner and trying to blend it. I decided to skip the step.

Finally I coated the entire tray in a brown engobe (after studying the test tiles in the glaze room and deciding I'd like to attempt a reduction firing on this tray), carved my name on the bottom, and set that out on the shelf to dry out also.

Then I cleaned up my messes on the wheel, and on the canvas-topped table.

It was only 2:30pm, but I decided to call it a day since my mom was going to be picking me up at some point. She was in town for the marathon and had my car. I didn't want to make her wait for too long. Unfortunately, since she was stuck in downtown traffic, I ended up waiting for her to show up for about 45 minutes or so, during which I attempted to call Hana to complain that I was abandoned at PCC.

Hana didn't answer, and I didn't leave a message, so she would have no idea what I was calling about. ;)