3rd Quarter Project

I did my project on making cups. You should take them off of the wooden board when they are leather hard because the wood will keep soaking up the moisture and the cup will get too dry. During making my cups, I focused on having good form for my element of design. I learned how to trim during this project, a skill that I did not know how to do before.

Febuary Post

I am currently working on the cup projects. So far I have only made one cup on the wheel. I have had some trouble keeping my cups centered but I think I am getting better at it.

Happy Holidays

 -Leather Hard - Clay which has dried sufficiently to be stiff, but is still damp enough to be joined to other pieces. - Bone Dry - Clay that is completely dried but not yet fired. Clay forms are most fragile at this stage. - Why is it important to connect slab work or trim pottery on the wheel when the clay is leather dry?

It is important because the leather hard clay lets the water go through the clay and connects it better so it will hold together stronger.

Glazing

It is important to wash your hands and get all of the dust off of your piece so that all of the glaze can go on it. If you have some dust then the glaze might not be able to stick. When glazing, you need to apply wax resist to your work only when dipping into a bucket. If you are dipping your piece into a bucket of glaze, it should only be in contact with the glaze for about a second. You can't brush on a dipping bucket glaze because if you brushed it on, you wouldn't get all of the particles of the glaze.

Hand-Building

Hand-Building

By: Shane Bowles

So far my coal pot is going fine. Im at exactly 7 inches tall and I need to make it 14. Right now im just building it straight up so that when its tall enough I can cut into it and make it in a zig zag design. Making coals is kind of hard for me but I think im getting better at it. It looks like its going to turn out how i want it but I cant completely tell yet.

Pinch Pot

Coil Pot

My pot ended up pretty much how I wanted it to. The clay didn't always do what i wanted it to do. When I was making the design, it was hard to control the lines so I put some water over where I was making the lines to make it easier. I also had the sides too think so I used a tool to thin it out a lot. I liked the way it turned out and I don't think I would of changed anything.

Pinch Pot: Vase

Eye Level
 

Bird's Eye View

• What does it mean to "slip and score?" Slip and score is when you cut ridges into the clay where you are connecting it to another piece. You then place water onto where you have cut and then connect the two pieces.
• Why is it important to slip and score two pieces of clay together? It is important to slip and score because it is a good way to connect two pieces of clay together. If you don't then they will break apart later.
• What steps did you take to make your piece symmetrical?  To make my vase symmetrical, I pinched the sides until it felt like they all were the same. If my vase was leaning more one way then I would bang the bottom of the vase to make it more even and straight.