Silly whistling bird wearing a hat

It's a teapot in the making!

It's a silly one, I know. I made a closed form and then added a cylinder. 

Those are just some techniques I wanted to try after seeing a very sophisticated teapot on Pinterest that looked (to my rookie eyes) like it was made that way. 

My instructor thinks it was hand built and I believe her. That teapot was the inspiration for me to try these techniques out, I wasn't really trying to re-make it.

 

No surprise that in my hands, the attempt at a beautiful, organic inspiration turned into a silly whistling bird wearing a hat. Maybe the ash glaze will make it more elegant.

Time will tell. I keep checking my email to see when the glaze fire will be finished. I'm trying to be patient but that's not my strong suit. 

Will keep you posted!

EDITED TO ADD THE FINISHED TEAPOT:

Yes, Of Course

 Landscape entitled: Office Trio

I love these three goblets. I hand built them and used underglaze to make them pretty. 

Yes, of course they are blue and white. 

After auditioning them in as wine goblets, I decided that they belong in my office instead. 

They hold (in order from left to right) paper clips, stickers, and push pins.

Yes, of course if you visit me at my cubical I will offer you a sticker. 

And yes, of course I am going to make more and this time I'll make at least one that is big enough to hold a decent pour.

Understanding the Curve

I just finished a Wheel 2 class at the Madison School and Community Recreation (MSCR). 

I left my pots glazed and awaiting firing.

The teacher was really talented. I think I finally got the hang of bowls. We'll see when I try it by myself. Once I started feeling like I was understanding the curve, I tried it on some vases.

I love making these bottle/vase shapes but they often collapse at the shoulder when I'm throwing them. 

But hurray! The tips she shared with me worked for making a happy, rounded shoulder as well as a happy. rounded bowl. 

 

I isolated this one from the photo because I love it sooooooo much. 

When I took it off the wheel, it was glowing and I felt music playing. 

I've never had the experience of achieving proportional harmony before. 

I want to hug it! 

I glazed it with an ash glaze and I hope it was the right choice. 

I'll let you know.

Having feelings

 

I have some feelings about these cups. 

• I feel annoyed by the glaze. It's not what I wanted. I was trying some things and none of them worked.
• I feel thrilled with the way they feel in my hand. They are light and comfy and the shape is really lovely.
• I feel grumpy about the handles. I succumbed to peer pressure and tried to pull handles. It's not my normal handle and the fact that I never pull handles really, really shows. 
• I feel like making more of these. As much as I'm dissatisfied by the way they look, I'm learning things about where I want to take this shape next.
• I feel weird about bullet pointing my feelings but here we are.

Moving on to the things I just got from a wood fire kiln I was allowed to put a few pieces into.

Here's my drama queen:

I love it so much! The texture, the toastiness of the raw clay, the little dots in the glaze.

Just YUM! 

I put the wadding on the side which warped the heck out of it. But that's cool. What's not cool is that it leaks! Just a little bit but that's all it takes. Such a drama queen!

This one leaks too. That's fine with me. I expected it to leak. I made it on a balloon, which was kind of precarious. The glaze bubbled up in a weird way inside. I would prefer the outside looked like this EXCEPT for the fact that the outside looks like this:

Which is lovely and varied and organic. So lovely. I used shino glaze on all the pieces and regret nothing.

This one is fine. It's fine. Whatever. It's what it is. I do love the raw clay and I really enjoy making the messy overlapping wee slabs of clay. It feels like patchwork and I do love me some patchwork. It's an odd shape - I used the bottom of a quart mason jar. I've done it before and honestly, I like the other one way more. I'll share a picture another day. That one is being used as a planter in my office cubical. This one doesn't know what it is.

These know what they are. They are mugs. They are magnificent. They are so gorgeous that the camera can't catch how delightfully metallic the glaze looks. I only lined it and used a titch of glaze around the rim. The rest is all from the wood fire.

Here's the whole wood fire gang. They are buddies...I assume. 

They haven't said otherwise.