Y'all tired of this yet? Eventually, I'm gonna have to stop or else everyone will know what they're getting for Christmas.
Here's the deal: When you get to this stage of pottery making (meaning you have a viable piece), you hesitate to expand your horizons. You just want to offer a 'thanks' to the pottery gods, fire the damn thing, glaze it and fire again. Let's be honest, there are a lot more steps where you can mess up a piece. Why (possibly) knowingly mess it up at this stage? Outside of the pottery studio, I have a tendency to stick with routine; be a bit adverse to change (duh!). Why? Well, we all know that some trials can lead to errors (gross errors). Today, trying to break that pattern of sameness (or should I say, 'perceived safety'?), I decided to experiment on the previously mentioned ugly pitcher. Let's see how it looks when I try to etch a design into the mildly damp clay . . . . .
Ta-freaking-da! Not too shabby right? This experiment led me to try this etching thing into a piece I was fond of, a small plate.
They're fish, but hopefully you could tell that. I've never been a good artist. I can visualize something in the gray matter between my ears, but the vision loses potency traveling from brain to hand. So, you have to understand this was a big feat for me. Now, there is the chance that this detail could be lost in the firing or glazing process. That's OK. I'll consider it part of the lessons learned to make future pieces even better!
4 comments:
Way cool! I think these will survive the "firing" and look even better when finished!
This is only the beginning for you. I'm sure your just scratching the surface of your pottery creativity
I especially like the etching on the pitcher. Everything you've done is well cool.
Impressive!! You're quite creative, and in spite of your disclaimers, you're also willing to take chances and make changes. That is SO obvious.
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