Alchemy of Clay

Original ornament designs.
Bisque fired.

Then I made molds from each of them.


The molds were bisque fired.  I chose to not continue with a couple of them, but now I can press new clay into them, cut around the designs to get them to have clean edges, then let them firm up over night, and finish them off with some tool work and cleaning the edges.  Then they get bisqued and this time I glaze them, hand painted several coats of Stroke & Coat by Mayco, and little dots with designer liner by Mayco.



I think I'll ask $10 each for them.  Do you think that's a good price?

Today's Quote:
“When a famous writer gets a famous prize, we readers are given an opportunity to reread their books, but also to rethink the thoughts that we have had about those books.” Kazoo Ishiguro Winner Nobel Prize 2017

Many of us potters trim quickly and there-you-go another pot is ready to dry and bisque.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a pottery teacher, so if I happen to do something ax*backwards, I can only say it works for me.

I spend maybe more time than I need to trimming.  Here's my process (since I don't have a griffin grip like a production potter would.)

First center it on the wheel...set it almost in the middle, turn the wheel slowly, and hold something steady to find where it's off-center...then tap it away from that point until it it truly in the center.


Then attach the pot to the wheel with little blobs of wetter clay.  The pot being trimmed is best in a leather hard stage where the top edge (against the wheel head) won't be easily bent out of shape any more.


Most of the extra clay is on the sides of the bottom third of the pot, which have been left thick enough to have the wet clay stand up when it's thrown.


I try to remember the round bowl shape on the inside (no flat bottoms anymore inside) and I have almost reached the point where the lump on the inner side of a beginning potter's bowl is missing.



The finish trimmed bowl has a much smaller bottom than the original one I started with.
I know a lot of potters prefer a bigger trimming tool.  You can see by the size of my shavings that I'm more hesitant to take off a lot of clay at once.  But it goes pretty fast.