tennis, life and a few things in between

I’ve done a turntable (rotating tray) mix and match but don’t like what I made. I was being lazy and curved the edges upward … with a little shrinkage, they’re bit smaller than the lazy susan turntable.

So today I’m making it again … the 2nd set of lazy susan, with Potter’s Choice Dark Green PC-45 glaze.

This time, I make the edges separately and use them ti circle the pieces. This way, they should come out nicer!

… and lay the pieces into the kiln:

… my first lazy susan pieces, Potter’s Choice Seaweed PC-42 glaze:

Ghost (1990) was a supernatural romance movie, directed by Jerry Zucker, starring Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze, Whoopi Goldberg, etc.

This scene was very popular, and still is. When I heard a mate purchased a wheel machine, my first reaction was this scene and said to the couple, ‘oh you got yourself a Demi Moore,’ 🙂

Ghost was taken place at 102 Prince Street, lower Manhattan, New York, while ours in the couple’s garage.

Centering is the center of the wheel. Getting it centered is the half the battle.

I thought it would be easy but it isn’t. Master pottery couldn’t wait to teach me, ended up I couldn’t get it right myself – totally my fault. Having a little room to maneuver (to learn) is crucial.

The following video is long … hope there are some practical tips for getting it right.

… the following morning, we went to trim our creations when the pieces are leather hard.

When you’re not satisfied with the color, you can re-glaze it. The re-painted piece needs longer time to dry, before going into the kiln.

All my potter mates are artistic and creative. Me? Practical, making plates and bowls … as if I don’t have too many of them already. I’m just a lazy bone, don’t even want to use my brain to imagine.

One of my mates, Amy purchased pottery glaze squeeze bottles from Amazon and teacher showed us how to use it – above the first two photos: the left (first) is before the firing and the middle pic is after – due to gravity. She did say that it will look totally different once it has been fired. Note: the under glaze won’t bleed – will stay as painted – but not as shiny and colorful as the clear glaze. It’s a two step process but you don’t need to fire in between. The right photo is made by me – practical, and … don’t they look like the unearthed cultural relics 出土文物 lol

I made three of the Four ¼ for my 24″ lazy susan turntable Saturday.  Today I finished the last 1/4 pie, with imprint. I inscribed the wrong date tho 11.26 – should be 11.27. Many of them are on the molds, should take off after about a day or two.

3 pieces from this one clay dough: white square bowl hump; push plate and rectangle tray

Boxing day: how to make a box, with the cover. Many classmates made 1/4″ clay ahead of the time, so it would be leather hard. I used Smokey’s leftover – thanks!

A few tools we used: cutter, beveler to cut 45° edges, and a wooden flat stick to smooth out the insider corners – not really but better than finger tip.

I also mapped out my lazy susan tray. We also discussed Sax ceramic glaze, which is truer to its color, as Amaro’s Potter’s Choice glaze.

Repair the crack: I used Amaco’s Bisque Fix ($28 for 4 oz can).

Pottery lesson #7 (the first lesson after the six-week session): push plate. What’s the different from the slump mold? I thought I could find answer easily online but I haven’t. Will ask the teacher next time.

Push is the key here

We also picked up the finished projects that were made over the past few weeks. The piece I like the most: cylinder/vase that was made/formed during our second lesson on Oct 16.

Today is our final day, of six Mondays session. To conclude it, we’re glazing again, on the pieces we made in the previous sessions.

We got our first session‘s creations back: flowers, turtles, mini plate, etc. My little turtle was broken.

We learnt to pour the glaze into skinny jars where you can’t get to it with a fan brush.

I’m dutifully recording each layer of glaze in the ClayLab app.

Ya, we’re glazing, finally! With so many colors (Amaco), the fun part begins.

It’s the week 5 of our six weeks session. The teacher suggests the app Clay Lab to keep truck of our pieces.

Glazing in pottery, I feel is a part of science and part of art: two shades mixing up will turn into totally different colors, when you apply differently – like this one: the top is obsidian under white, and the bottom under grey. The result is so drastic.

… Sax’s color is truer

I glazed three pieces: my flower and mini sauce dish. My turtle is missing a leg and pumpkin was broken into pieces. This pumpkin is made by a classmate who’s not coming back – I’m practicing on it.

The fourth lesson is moulding (predominately used by the Brit -:).

There are two kinds of molding: slump (the inside) and hump (outside).

I used one of the potteries made by my kid -:)

We got our glazes … to share! Next week, we will learn how to glaze.

Our third class is all about slab cylinders texture mug / vase.

The little turtle, flower, etc we made on our first class, are dried, waiting to be burned.

Before we leave, the pottery master talked about glazing materials – the colors!

A classmate placed order for us – we all get two basic colors, plus an additional third (all different), so we can all share and experiment.

We glaze this one during our 5th and 6th class; afterward it went to the kiln. I picked up the finished product on Nov 13.

Glazing:

• inside: pour Celadon
• outside:
  • 1. celadon
  • smokey merlot
  • blue rustile