New listing on etsy

I forgot to put this jar up when it came out of the kiln. There were three of them but the other two had cracks on the bottom of the lids so those had to be disqualified. It sucks, I forget what the percentage is but it's around 10% of your work will have "S" cracks in them.

A Slow Week...But There's Pictures!

This week has been slow, I didn't get much studio time in.  I did finish an oyster vase I've been working on but stalling a bit on letting my large vase dry completely.  To be honest I'm a little worried and anxious as to how the customer who commissioned this will like what I've done.  It's made exactly to her spaceifications and there's no reason for them not to like it.   This is the same feeling I got when I was in school right before a big critique, the nervousness of other people judging your work.  The best way I can describe this feeling is of bearing your soul for judgement.  When you've put so much of your self into your work, how youl're feeling, thinking.. A lot of the time my work reflects my the mood I was in at the time the piece was made.  So since this vase is way to big to ship(not really sure I could find a bow that big plus the shipping would be outrageous) it will have to be in person so I'll get to see their face when they receive it.  I hope they liked it.  On other news I posted some new listings on etsy!

Till next time

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Digging Up The Past

So today I was unpacking everything I've made and looking at it all. For one I hadn't realized just how much pottery I've accumulated over the years some I can sell and others are pots that have flaws or don't tech the quality that I think would best reflect my current level of talent. Also looking at some of my older pieces always seems to give me inspiration to grow and evolve the works of the past and update them to my current state of mind and emotion.

This piece for example inspires me to keep the shape of the body but expand the petals/leafs at the top. Cascading them in waves till they reach halfway down.

Progress has been made

Another week has passed.  Good things have happened, I finished a set of large dinner plates to match the smaller ones I have up on etsy.  Whenever I make a set I always add an extra one in case something cracks or the glaze gets messed up.  This precaution has saved me many times.  Some peices came out of the kiln as well and as soon as I photograph them ill put a couple images up here and on etsy.  People don't seem to respond well to the pictures I've taken in my back yard so I've decided to make a light box and see if that helps.  A friend recommended it to me so it's worth a shot. I am nearly finished with those two vases I was talking a bout in my previous post all that's needed to do is smooth out the rough edges and coerce some of the bumps out of them.  Nearly had a heart attack trying to put the two halfs together but the end result is well worth it, looking at them almost makes me want to start on a new set right away.  Maybe later though, after I've forgotten how frustrating it was.  Lets see, is there anything else...those double walled vessels are having their first firing right now so I can get started in figuring out which color to make them.  That's all for now, I'll have a picture of my vases up later tonight when I have access to a computer.

Powers

The one on the right is closer to being completely finished while the left one is just in the beginning stages of being refined.

The First Of Many

It's Monday!  Time for me to pour out my frustrations from my work and talk about pottery.  I'm glad I kept to my schedule, it always helps if I have a deadline otherwise things are just floating around in my head.   Let's see, what have I done this week... Well, I got a commission to make a large 20 inch vase.      The thing about this is that she wants a specific design that I've done in the past, and in order to make her one of these vases I have to make two.  One will be wide at the bottom and skinny at the top and the other is wide at the top and skinny at the bottom.  Then I cut them both in half and mesh the two different halves together.  They've been giving me some resistance, I've come to call them the troublesome twins.  Thankfully they're almost done.  I think I'm just going to destroy the other vase when I'm finished and reclaim the clay since my larger vases don't sell too well.  Another thing that has been a little frustrating are some double walled vessels I've been working on.  A vase and a mug, I have to go super slow with these so they won't dry too fast and crack!  The one thing about these are that they're too heavy!  The mug is about 2 pounds and the vase is around four!  I cut out some designs from the outer wall , which I was going to do anyways, but I was also hoping that It would cut off some of the weight.  It did kind of help, a little.  My next set should be lighter though as I will make sure to do some major trimming.  Which I thought I had done a lot on this set but not enough apparently.  That's what's happened this week.  I'll put up a picture if the double walled vase or mug later tonight.  Till next week!

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