What’s Up?
Another long post drought — sorry about that. So what's new...
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My wife and I are taking a ceramics class, and it's really fun and really frustrating! Getting the clay centered on the wheel is so dadgum hard, I can't begin to explain it — but everyone says that one day it'll just click and centering will happen with little effort. We'll see.
I think I like the ceramics so much because there's just something cool about taking a lump of clay and fashioning anything you want out it. Do I need some espresso cups? Slap down some clay and make one or two! Need a couple of custom cereal bowls? Not a problem. We're still only a couple weeks in, so we haven't gotten to glazing — but that will be really cool.
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We took a family vacation last week, spending several days in Coronado, California. It was absolutely GORGEOUS. It would be a great place to live, for sure. I've never too much of a beach fan, but that's because I hadn't ever actually sat out on a patio and let the sounds of the ocean hit me. It was just mesmerizing to sit out, enjoy the view and sounds, and soak in the sun and weather.
Now we're back in Texas, and while I love it here — I hate the heat. Ugh.
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I'm on a quest to lose weight, and I'm getting closer and closer to my goal of 215. I started at 234 (holy crap), and I'm now hovering around 221. I'm pretty happy with myself — especially since I managed to not lose weight while on vacation. I'll tell you, if you want to drop pounds and get some wicked cardio, go get an elliptical machine — the butt kicking is well worth it.
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D'oh! Ace of Cakes is on — gotta go!
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Maury,
I took a ceramics class in college - spent weeks working on the wheel and frustrated the whole time.
But, as you say, centering finally just clicks - for me, I learned to place my right elbow tight against my right hip and use my whole body to lean into the clay mass - it made the centering easier when the clay had to move my whole body to stay out of center. Keeping both elbows out made it too easy for the clay to simply move my arms back and forth.
I threw 80% of all the pots I kept in the last two weeks of class when I finally could consistantly center and throw decent shapes. Keep at it, it’s a rewarding feeling when it finally clicks and it’s amazing how much easier to throw with properly centered clay.
We created our own glazes from scratch too; creating small batches of test mixes and glazing test tiles and firing them. 95% of the results were useless messes, 4% showed some promise with further manipulation and testing and 1% were maybe useful. However, with 20 students each testing hundreds of possible combinations and sharing our best results with each other, and basing further tests on refining what worked best, we ended up with a good number of useful base glazes and secondary overglazes to add color, texture and effects.
We also did oxidation and reduction firings in the kiln - the same glazes produce different colors and effects depending which firing processes was done. Also, placing items high or low in the kiln affects how the glazes are colored and how they flow as well.
Have fun - but keep your hands moisturized. Clay dries your hands terribly and causes your skin to crack and peel - get clay in those open cracks and you’ll wish you hadn’t taken pottery.
T.F.