j's 8th class (hey look, my pottery!)

I showed up ON TIME this class. Whoah!

And, on the shelves there were a bunch of finished pottery, so I rooted through them and found my test tiles, and all the pieces I've glazed to date! Reduction firing is SO COOL. I love the way everything turned out.

Here are the 2 bowls and the wonky hand-built cup I made on day 1:






And here are the "five handled pieces" I made:










neato.

After this, I found that the handles on the mugs that I attached last week had cracked. Zach suggested I take mac10 clay dust and use that with vinegar water to patch it up. I did as he suggested and it appeared to work. Then I went ahead and trimmed the cup part of the little goblet I was working on in open lab this last week... and then slipped, scored, and attached that to the conical base.

Then I set to work making balls out of my reclaimed mac10 clay to throw with. Today was my last day to "begin new wet clay projects." I went ahead and started goofing off (no agenda really), and created some kind of bottle-shape which reminds me of the old genesis smoothie bottles they used to sell at Reed. After this I made a second squat conical base and another goblet cup (I was pretty impressed how my attached little goblet was looking, so I decided to try a second one), and then, with my last bit of clay I slowly attempted a tall skinny cylinder, which I then transformed into another cone. I was starting to have issues with the cone and Zach came over and helped me get it back under control... now it's like a little 6" tall bud vase. Kinda cute.

I was out of ready-clay, but not out of class time, so I went ahead and went into my bag of reclaimed mac10 clay that I thought was too dry to use, and kneaded it thoroughly with the really wet clay I took off of the wheel until it was all a consistent good-wetness. I made one last ball.

At the wheel, I used this to make a tall cylinder, and then used a wooden rib to help angle the walls outwards, but as straight as I could manage. The form is REALLY controlled, and I couldn't believe I had made it (granted it did take me a long time). I thought the form would make an exciting coffee mug.

After this I cleaned up my wheel.
I've got like a load of things to trim, attach, and finish up at the open lab on Tuesday evening now. But I can move all the bone-dry items on to the bisque cart on Monday (Nov 26) evening before the final bisque firing of the semester. After that it's GLAZE MANIA!