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ceramics
October 2009 
Summertime Potter
Posted on Oct 19th, 2008
by 
Jw
Jw
Carla asked me if I had gotten my bowls fired yet. The answer is yes and I said I'd post some pictures. Below: blowls lined up before first firing.
I ended up with 42 bowls to fire. I threw at least twice as many, cutting every other bowl in half to look at the evenous of the walls. I feel that I am just beginning to be familiar with making bowls. In martial arts it is said that you don't master a form until you've done it at least a thousand times. It's probably true with making bowls as well.
Pictured below: Bowls after bisque firing all glazed and ready for the glaze firing. I am very much a beginner at this. I have never mixed glazes before and thought I'd be doing it at the studio where someone would be giving me a bit of guidance. I followed the instructions but was not sure how thick the glaze should be. I had everything done when I talked with a friend who used to teach ceramics. She told me that my application was too thick and things would bubble and crack. So I spent an afternoon washing glaze off. It took me another whole day to reapply it.
When I packed up all my bowls and delivered them to the studio where they would be fired and started asking questions about the thickness of the glaze, I was told that my application of glaze was still probably a bit thick. I decided to just go for it anyway. I only lost two bowls from glaze running and sticking to the kiln shelf. Lucky me.
These bowls look like I could have bought them in a department store. This surprised me. Glaze came out okay. The colors are a bit more pastel that I was expecting. I learned that the clay body affects the final color of the glaze. It only makes sense that if your canvas is a certain color, the paint you put on top will be affected by that color. The pink is a glaze called hazelnut brown? I think that it came out the way it did because the glaze was so thick. At thinner places it looks more like brown.
Below: my goofy three footed teapot. I am working on making more in the same mode.
My wheel takes a tractor trip on a forklift to be stored away for winter. Maybe next year I'll have a place to play with clay in the winter.
I ended up with 42 bowls to fire. I threw at least twice as many, cutting every other bowl in half to look at the evenous of the walls. I feel that I am just beginning to be familiar with making bowls. In martial arts it is said that you don't master a form until you've done it at least a thousand times. It's probably true with making bowls as well.
Pictured below: Bowls after bisque firing all glazed and ready for the glaze firing. I am very much a beginner at this. I have never mixed glazes before and thought I'd be doing it at the studio where someone would be giving me a bit of guidance. I followed the instructions but was not sure how thick the glaze should be. I had everything done when I talked with a friend who used to teach ceramics. She told me that my application was too thick and things would bubble and crack. So I spent an afternoon washing glaze off. It took me another whole day to reapply it.
When I packed up all my bowls and delivered them to the studio where they would be fired and started asking questions about the thickness of the glaze, I was told that my application of glaze was still probably a bit thick. I decided to just go for it anyway. I only lost two bowls from glaze running and sticking to the kiln shelf. Lucky me.
These bowls look like I could have bought them in a department store. This surprised me. Glaze came out okay. The colors are a bit more pastel that I was expecting. I learned that the clay body affects the final color of the glaze. It only makes sense that if your canvas is a certain color, the paint you put on top will be affected by that color. The pink is a glaze called hazelnut brown? I think that it came out the way it did because the glaze was so thick. At thinner places it looks more like brown.
Below: my goofy three footed teapot. I am working on making more in the same mode.
5
My wheel takes a tractor trip on a forklift to be stored away for winter. Maybe next year I'll have a place to play with clay in the winter.
Access: Public
JW, I loved reading about how you learn this craft. Your final results are gorgeous. I'm thinking ”No, not a department store; these should go in one of those art shops along the winding road that hugs the Atlantic.”
When we go on vacation, I resist impulse touristy-shopping (you know, the kind that results in things like lobster paperweights and commemorative spoons?) Always, and everywhere, I choose locally-made pottery instead, bought directly from the hands that made it. Each piece is forever treasured.
Pottery speaks to me. It speaks of form, impermanence, colour, sensuality, texture, fragility, and ancestors. At an archeological dig, folks just lay eggs over the discovery of pottery shards, because they are such a precious part of our ordinary lives.
Thanks so much for sharing the photos (they're excellent), and your process.
bows,
crow
Thanks Crow. You are so right about impermanence. We'll be using the bowls and especially since we have teenager, they will eventually break. I said “department store” because the glaze lacks a speckly, arty, imperfect look that all my other ceramics have had.(It's probably because of the clay body.) I can't help but be surprised by results since this is all so new for me. Actually, that is part of the fun, being surprised at what happens.
Jw, I love your work. Thank you for explaining the process; it's something that I didn't know anything about, so I found your description fascinating. I have a handmade ceramic incense bowl that I use when I meditate–but thanks to you, now I know what went into its creation.
These bowls are gorgeous. Makes me hanker to get back on the wheel again - I'm no where as good as you are though. They're wonderful!
You are so gifted! Amazing to get all those bowls in perfect shapes. Reminds me of the potter I saw in a village in India.
In Indian mystical poetry, a potter's work is likened to God's work.
What great photos of your beautiful bowls. Is it too early to have your wheel out again?