Ceramics and contests

No, I’m not giving away any of the ceramics I’ve made (you wouldn’t want them anyway). I’ve been promising pictures of the stuff I’m doing in class and will fulfill that promise in a moment, but first, here are a couple of cool contests for you to enter.

Jackson Pearce is having a contest for Sisters Red. You can check out her LJ blog to watch Space Dog tell you about it.

Next, Kimberley Little is having a contest for ARCs of The Healing Spell so go enter on her blog!

Now, on to some ceramics. As you know, I’m taking a ceramics class at the community college. I’m completely enjoying it (so much that I may purchase my own kiln). I’m not very good at it, but I’m getting there. My very first attempts at creating in clay have finally come through the firing and glazing process and here are some pictures for you to laugh at.

This is a heart shaped container (we use it for a candy dish) and a heart trivet (we call it a hot pot plate at our house). I made the trivet because I messed up when making the heart container. The container had to be done in three pieces; the bottom first followed by the two sides. On my first attempt, I didn’t leave enough room to attach the sides (which must be attached on top of the bottom, not around the sides of the bottom piece) so I turned it into a trivet. Thus the little white “feet” on the underside.

The underside that touches the kiln shelf can’t be glazed or it will fuse with the shelf and break (both the shelf and the piece).

This is a picture of the decorations on the side of the candy dish.

Now this next thing is my first attempt at a larger piece. It’s a big plate thing, and I’m not sure what I’ll ever use it for, but it was fun to make. ;-) The glazing didn’t work out like I’d hoped so you can’t see the designs I made very well. I’m including a picture on the right taken without the flash so you can see the designs a bit better. I won’t use that color glaze again if I’ve etched a design. =(

 

And these next things were kind of fun.

This first one was my mistake. I tried to make a “mold” or “stamp” to use but the etching wasn’t deep enough so I punched holes in the wet clay (I’ll loop ribbon through the holes and hang it on the wall).

The second one is the mold I use (thus the date and my mark are reversed), and the purple one is the finished product (my youngest daughter wanted purple but I’m not too fond of the color . . . unfortunately I’ve already dipped a vase I made in the purple glaze so we’ll see what it looks like when it comes out).

As I mentioned above, I have a vase I made that is glazed and waiting for the final firing. I also have a few bowls. I’m hoping they’ll be finished next week. One of them is a small bowl I did on the pottery wheel. It’s a lot harder than it seems! I managed to make the bowl after only four hours at the wheel (which I’m told is pretty good considering the instructor usually makes students sit at the wheel for six hours learning to center the clay).

I suppose these  works aren’t horrible for a beginner (according to my instructor and classmates, they’re pretty good), but I’m having fun and that’s all that matters. It’s so relaxing to work with the clay and see some finished products.

Now I’m off to do some revising on a WIP before I have to get the kiddies from school!

Write on.