Now for Something Completely Different...

I was organizing my Flickr account earlier tonight and came across some photos of a few pieces of pottery I made several years ago, so I thought I'd share one of them tonight. I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but the Husband and I used to take pottery classes at a local studio. The first time I tried using the wheel I was in college, and I never managed to learn how to center to the clay properly. I ended giving up in frustration but was later persuaded by an optimistic colleague at work to sign up for a class with her and another friend of ours. The two didn't really take to it, but to my surprise, I found that I enjoyed it. I never got good at it, mind, but I did enjoy it.

Anyway, after you throw a pot on the wheel, you usually trim and shape the bottom a little before bisque firing it. (A basic pot will go through two firings - a bisque fire to harden the actual clay and then a glaze firing once you apply the glaze to the pot.) That was my salvation, as my pots were always a little bottom-heavy. I'm afraid I over-trimmed this piece. It came through the bisque fire okay, but after I glazed it, the lip completely distorted during the glaze-firing. Nevertheless, I sort of like how the glaze came out on this piece, so I keep it around and use it for a knitting notions bowl now. (It's kind of embarrassing - I can just feel the professional ceramic artists wincing as they read/view this. Sorry guys. At least I have a complete appreciation for how beautiful and technically wonderful your work is!)


The pottery studio where I, and later the Then-Boyfriend-Now-Husband, took classes will always have a special place in my heart. It so happened that the day of our fourth dating anniversary was a Saturday, the day we took classes. H. ended up proposing to me that morning, five minutes before class. I remember that I actually refused to take the ring off after that, and ended up getting it covered in porcelain slip and other muck pretty much immediately. It was a great morning.

Thanks for stopping by!