Glazed and Fired

I finally collected the pieces I made during my pottery class. I was quite anxious that I'd have something worth keeping as the tutor had emailed us all saying "It seems the firing was a bit of a hit and miss. Some things were underfired-it may have only been 10c under but it makes a difference or it could have been in a cooler part of the kiln." I finished and glazed 11 pieces and had images of all of them being duds. I was pleasantly surprised.

It's such a satisfying process. From the initial throwing of the clay and seeing the new piece. Then leaving it to air dry that changes the look again. You fire it the first time and the weight and sizing changes so you see it anew. Finally you glaze it and it seems to cover so many inperfections. I'm definitely signing up again next year.

Wheeling

This week was my third pottery class. Each class is only two hours long and it's not long enough, the time flies and there are only 7 classes.

The first week, the first time our teacher, Lesley Ens, demonstrated we all thought, wow that looks easy enough. She centred the clay first time, she seemed to tease the clay up and down and into shape with only her fingertips. She produced gorgeous deep noodle soup style bowls in a matter of minutes. Then it was our turn - let me tell you - she's a professional and she makes it look easy. Don't get me wrong, it's great fun but there's a lot of energy that goes into making that clay move and it takes quite some time to start reading the clay and what it will do. These three are my first week's effort.

Then there's trimming, something else I didn't know about pottery - although how I imagined you got the foot rings on by turning I have no idea. So that's what the shot of the upside down pot is. You leave the clay covered in plastic so it dries off but doesn't harden and then you put it back on the wheel and trim off the excess clay and basically tidy and finish. I found this part quite relaxing, like binding a quilt, the finishing process. Having said that, the two hours went way too fast. Next week's the half way mark - and we haven't started cups or plates or glazing yet!

New

Bought over the weekend at the Mud Factory in Healesville. The potter is lovely and the cup equally so. My morning coffees have already brought me extra pleasure when drunk from this beauty. Potting is always something I've wanted to do, but put off. I think 2009 might be the year.