A Room of One's Own: In Which a Noob is Confused and Seeks Advice from Mud Colonists

Hello peoples! It's a mid week update from the Hancock's House of Happy workshop and a Mud Colony meet up.

My New Obsession (Mud Colonist Query!)


Yes my new obsession is making spoons. No idea why. I have been doing some hand building with slabs (see below) and with the little scraps left over I make spoons. Because... it seems like a fine thing to make? I really don't know but I need some advice from the voices of experience:

How the frik do I glaze and fire these things? Like if I want them glazed all over? Yes I am a big dumb noob and I can't figure it out. Is it with pins?

What is your making obsession this week? What have you had to figure out on your own that you wish someone could have told you about?

Roll With It
So I turned my shed into a workshop for pottery in August in anticipation of the arrival of the wheel. I live in a one bedroom apartment and up until now pottery has been haphazard. Because it is a pain to get all the clay out for a few hours and then have to put it all away again so you don't get clay or glaze in your dinner or you need the table to hem drapes.


Again what a big dummy I am. Why didn't I sort the shed out sooner so I had the space to work. I can now roll out slabs and leave them out to go the right hardness. I didn't know how much I would like it. It distracts me from throwing which isn't very productive right now.

So this is all a bit confusing.

And I totally stole the idea for the item pictured above from something I saw at a craft fair. It is a cocktail party plate. You have the thing for toothpicks and then a little dish for pits or dipping sauce. Bear demanded I make him one. I have had trouble getting the dish to stick for some reason.

What is your preferred making technique? What was the best idea you ever stole?

Throwing Progress 
Holy Frik this is hard. Learning it. Making time to learn it. Nothing I throw right now is fit for anything so all the time I spend practising throwing is technically unproductive time. It is discouraging.

 
However there has been a wee bit of progress. It doesn't look like it but these two examples are small victories. Literally. The one on the right especially. You see how it sort of cones in at the top? I MEANT to do that. Getting the clay what I want it to do instead of what IT wants to do is progress. The little one on the left represents the closest I have got to a cylinder shape as opposed to a bowl shape. Or wobble shape. Or collapsed blob shape.

I didn't spend as much time as I wanted at the weekend practising because I probably spent too much time practising and ended up with back ache. Positioning is still a problem.

Prototype Learning Curve
So I made like SIX of these incense stick/cone burners. You see the bit at the end where you can stick the stick and it drops the ashes on the plate and then the little holder at the end you can put a cone in.


I had this idea because I needed an incense stick/cone burner but after I made six of them (intending to glaze in bright colours and sell at the store) I decided I didn't like them at all!

Damn.

This is a lesson learned. Spend more time on designing and sketching and don't make six all at once right away.

So what would you do? Cut your losses and recyle or follow through and see if they sell?

That's all for now peoples. Other than to call your attention to my awesome creations that are for sale at my etsy store over on the right there. Seriously people I just want to sell these ones off to make room for new stuff. Just buy something already!

And come on by on Friday for an all new free cross stitch chart.

1 comment:

Adriana Christianson said...

you DO make me laugh !! fun post & thanks for being a part of Mud Colony !!
I haven't done the spoon thing , but , you could (a)make a little hole in the handle and hang them from a special gauge kiln happy wire thingy set up
(b)leave the back of the spoon unglazed?

(c) Put the question up on Mud Colony's Facebook page for more advice/suggestions
http://www.facebook.com/groups/482227655137957/
(or go to the FB link on our blog)

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