Throwing a 2 Sectioned Canister- Part 1

Here's a rough draft of a video sharing my approach to throwing larger canisters. Part 1 shows using 2 balls to throw a small 5 lb canister in sections to build up the form to 11 inches tall.



It's funny... it took an hour to shoot a 20 minute process, and then over 4 hours to edit down and compress everything into something that could be viewed in under 5 minutes.

Slipping Up

Well yesterday's canister slipped up nicely. The design seems to be working to hide the join marks that were left behind in throwing the stacks. The marks that are really obvious, are gouges left behind by my rib. At the time, I felt that they added a certain something in full daylight, but now I'm having second thoughts. I like leaving in a good amount of surface scumble (did I just make that word-up?) to help add depth to the final glazed surface, but it's a bit hit and miss.

Spring Canisters

Spent most of the week in trenches installing irrigation lines for the test gardens... It was a beautiful, beautiful week to be out streching the muscles. (Oh my Back!!!) Unfortunatly my studio time was limited to just a few hours at night. Just enough time to finish the designs on (8) 3.5 pounders above, put through a bisque load, and give a bit of thought about what to work on this weekend.

I'm going to see if I can choke in the waist on a series of 17" to 21" tall canisters without collapsing the pile. I build these up in sections... unfortunately you can just make out the joins on the one below by following it's profile. I'll flip it over tomarrow and see if I can chuck it up securly enough to cut a foot. That should be interesting.

Until then, I'll throw a few more tonight and see if I can get the profile I'm looking for.

Not a great week... but good

Well it’s been another good week around the studio. Not great… but good. I’ve been throwing, slipping, and trimming small canisters all week. This time around it‘s 2 to 3 pounders. This is the initial weight of each ball of clay when I initially start throwing it. They seem to generally lose a half a pound or more as they go through the process. The weight is lost in trimming and water weight.

And then there are the lids…lots of them. I throw my canisters first and then come the abundance of lids.

I’m rather particular on their fit, so I usually throw quite a few more than I need and toss what’s not used in to my reclaim bucket. I revisited the lid making process for a new local blog I’m playing with. If you haven’t seen how I make my lids yet, take a quick look. It’s one more approach the making a lid.

Crawl and Soda

The morning was spent finally posting a handful of canisters into my Etsy shop.

A little cone 6 crawl...

and a spot of cone 10 soda...

Now I just wish I could find my stride on writing those darn descriptions.

Ok ok... this is the last posting showing new works with the crawling glaze...
yeah right...

I just had to share these two small gift canisters really quickly. I traditionally offer this size locally as a "small nut jar". These just happen to be amazing! The crawling glaze separates and sinks in and fuses to the underlying glaze and body. They are beautiful in pictures, but they are luscious in your hand.