We knew that centering the clay would definitely be part of the lesson - we just had no idea how difficult that seemingly simple task could be. Essentially, the idea is to take a lump of clay and turn it into a pretty little domed shape that is smooth all around and perfectly centered right in the middle of the wheel. Sounds simple enough, right?
Needless to say, practicing this technique took up our entire first 3-hour lesson, and most of the people in the class still didn't quite get it by the end of the class (including us). Lucky for us, we had purchased the Open Studio package, which allowed us in the studio any time during operating hours. We dropped in a few days after our lesson, and with a few tips from a nearby experienced potter and a few others in the studio, we had the feel and technique pretty solid by the time we left, and could center our clay fairly quickly.
It's a good thing we stopped in to practice centering, because the next class was about making bowls. Even though most people were still struggling, the teacher helped each of us make at least one bowl and worked with us on the basic steps. A few of the people there had definitely been at this for a while now, so they pretty much just did their own thing while the rest of us struggled to make a single semi-symmetrical object.
With two weeks under our belt, we were feeling pretty good about centering and the general steps of making a piece, which usually ended up approximately cup or bowl-shaped, so the third week our teacher turned his attention to showing us how to trim and finish our pieces. Our class had made a surprising number of pieces already at this point, and I guess we were taking up too much shelf space, so we pulled them all down and learned how to polish the rough edges and trim the sides and bottom of the pieces. At this point, I had managed to create 5 things, and A had a solid 3 pieces. And please know that when I use the term 'pieces', I use it rather loosely as many of the things we make just seem to make themselves into whatever they want to be. There isn't a whole lot of inspiration or design involved here at this point.
A's 3 pieces before trimming
My 5 pieces
We had to miss the fourth class because A was a little under the weather, so we joined another class on Saturday morning for a make-up class. During that session we learned how to coat our pieces in glaze and glazed one of our pieces in the color of our choice. We also learned several different ways to make handles for coffee mugs, so we both decided to sit down and throw a mug on the wheel in anticipation of adding a handle to it at some point.
Trying to choose her glaze - so many options!
And that bring us to the fifth class, which happened just a few days ago. I can't believe this series has gone by so quickly. We've learned so much, but we still have a lot of practicing to do if we want to get better at doing this. It is simply astonishing some of the pieces these people make at this studio. While we were there on Saturday, I took a couple of pictures of someone who had two amazing pieces he was finishing up.
Seriously, look how huge that bowl is!
I loved the spout on this pitcher - he didn't even seem to be trying.
And it doesn't help that our teacher makes it all look so easy...
He's done much more amazing things than this, but I usually just gawp and stare and forget to grab my camera. Maybe I'll get a better video next week...
At our fifth class we actually glazed all the rest of our pieces, which took a good portion of the class time. A and I also trimmed the mugs we made on Saturday and I actually surprised myself by pulling two pretty decent-looking handles for both of them. One was small and went on A's cup, and the other one was quite hefty, which was a good complement to my giant cup. With a little help, we attached both handles and put the mugs on the firing rack. We even managed to make one press plate (like the ones we made in our first class) because our teacher has a special thing planned for them at our last class. It's so funny how excited he gets about pottery - you should have seen the electricity in his eyes when he excitedly told us about the possibilities of Shino (Shino Glaze images), and he always points out things like aesthetics and design in every piece he touches, which makes sense to us, but doesn't seem quite as pressing as simply making something that stays in one piece, stands up under its own weight, and generally resembles something that might be remotely useful (candy dish, anyone?)
Our next and final class is sure to be a packed one. He wants to do a potluck dinner as well as do something called a Raku glaze. The way he explains it, it sounds like we'll take a hot glazed piece out of the kiln right when it's done firing and then put it into a container full of combustible material, making a huge fireball and what should be some pretty cool-looking streaking and patterns on the piece. Honestly, I think it sounds a little bit scary, but he seemed very excited about it. I'll try to remember to take a video, if we survive it.
We stopped by the studio today to make a couple more press-plates that we'll hopefully use for the Raku glaze Monday night, and to trim our bowls. While we were there, we couldn't help ourselves and we made a couple more pieces. I'm still having the same collapsing problem with mine because I've got uneven thinning on the side walls, but lucky for me I like wonky bowls, because now I have a bunch of them. We also caught sight of a few of our glazed pieces coming out of the kiln, so hopefully I'll have some photos of those pretty soon, too.
For now I'll leave you with this one last picture that is the very last thing we do every time we go to the pottery studio - clean.
