(T)arina and (A)tkins in Chicago

I figured I should blog about how my pottery turned out. :) I got about 12 pieces back. Which sucks because I’m pretty sure I made 15, glazed 14 and I know of one that was “accidentally taken.” What makes me sad is the one that was picked up by someone else was a pretty cute pitcher. I used some blue and white glazes on it and was looking forward to seeing how it turned out. The teacher said it looked pretty cool.
I may have another piece floating out there somewhere, but I can’t think of it. Maybe I did only glaze 13. Oh well.
I had no idea what I was doing with the glazes because I missed the last class (I was in Colorado for Chris’s wedding). So, I just picked ones I liked and combos that I thought would look nice. If nothing else, I have a good idea of what the glazes do when I go back to create more.
In any case, here are the wheel-thrown pieces:

That shows pretty well what I did for those eight weeks. I succeeded mostly with bowls, which is why there are more bowls than other forms. :)
Here are a few closeups of my favorites:

Atkins and I call this one the guac bowl. We think that it would look especially lovely filled to the brim with delicious guacamole. Yum yum! Haven’t made any yet, but I will soon!

I really like the shape and the colors on this one. It’s just so bright and springy! Plus the little twists on the rim add visual interest. You can’t tell from the pic but it has a nice high foot on it so that makes it a little more fun.

This is my homage to my undergrad alma mater, University of Wyoming. Brown and Gold, baby! Haha. Actually, I just decided to try out these two glazes to see how they looked together. I am very happy with the result.

This last one is a set of matching tumblers that Atkins says are his favorite. :) They are pretty small. Too small to be useful for a decent-sized drink. So I’m not really sure what we’re going to do with them. I like how they turned out, though. The form is nice.

I’m hoping to go back and make bigger and better things. Unfortunately the intermediate/advanced class is on Wednesdays, which is the worst day for me to have class. My usual day off is Thursday so I’m normally at the clinic late on Wednesdays making sure everything is in order. I may try and switch days off for the spring semester so I can keep going.

I welcome comments and questions. Let me know if you like anything in particular. I’m pretty pleased how everything came out but I have to say that I have problems making large forms. None of my bowls is particularly big. I think I just need to practice more. I am a lot better at making pottery with even sides and good bottoms that aren’t too heavy. It’s all about improvements, I guess.
Thanks for looking!

• Leave a comment... (3)

Hi! So, I had my second pottery class, and it rocked! I was able to make five bowls, and they all look pretty decent. I’m so happy I decided to take this class. It makes me very happy. :)
Everything else is going well. I had an emergency surgery on Friday night that kept me at work 3.5 hours after close (no, not the entire time was in surgery). It was a great experience, though I admit, I was pretty much terrified to try it at first. One of the techs, Shannon, kept me nice and calm and helped me out. Mainly just by saying “You got this.” haha!

Our air conditioning unit flooded. The little pan that collects water overflowed. We don’t know how long it had been going on. I only discovered it because as I went to feed the cats Saturday morning, I stepped on a wet part of the carpet. Atkins investigated (since I had to go to work) and discovered the AC problem. Unfortunately, it looks like it had been going on for some time as the small bookcase (which is against a wall that is shared with the AC unit) was moldy on the bottom. We decided to get rid of it. The larger bookcase was also wet, so we took everything down and are letting it dry. I think I may just get rid of that one as well and get decent-looking, larger bookcases. Here’s a pic of what the living room looks like now. (Bonus–you can also see our new tv.) Here’s another pic if the link ever comes back up. For some reason, that link is a little dodgy right now.

So, that’s our business at the moment. We are trying to figure out what to do for book storage. Should we get a nice couple of bookshelves and recreate the setup? Or should we move our books into the office and do something new in the living room. I’m not sure what that would be…
Lots of choices!

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the wedding photos!

• Leave a comment... (0)

Hey all you loyal tanda readers.

I had my first pottery class last Thursday. It was pretty cool! It hurt my back and my bum, but it still rocked. We are beginning with wheel throwing, which is the only ceramic work I’ve done. I actually found it easy to center the clay, something that completely flummoxed me eight years ago.
Centering is when you get the clay perfectly in the center of the wheel so there are no wobbles when you turn the wheel on. Sounds easy, but it’s not! Here’s a pic of a centered piece of clay:

So, then after you center it, you “open” the clay, which is the process of making the inside, basically. You stick your thumbs in the clay and make a divot.

After a little more work, you start raising the walls.

This is where I get into a little bit of trouble. I am out-of-practice and so I tend to overwork the clay and make the walls thin in some places. This is obviously not good for stability, so some of my practice pots this last Thursday kinda went “squish” in the middle and collapsed.
That’s okay, though. I figured if I could center the clay, I’d be way ahead of where I originally started. So, there it is. I centered and opened and raised some walls. No, those are NOT my hands up there. haha.
I just have to be a little more forceful and raise the walls with fewer throws. It’s all about firmness and rhythm. And the instructor is really nice and good about giving tips. I have gotten a lot of great info out of him already. I need to go in more often (there are open studio hours on Saturday) so I can get better and mail people cool stuff. ;)
As much as I love throwing on the wheel, I think I may try the handbuilding part of the class as well. I’ve never done it before, so it’ll be nice to branch out a little.

It’s so exciting to be making art again. Well, sorta. I mean, I haven’t made anything permanent yet. But I’m getting back in the groove, and that’s all that matters, right?

• Leave a comment... (1)

Not that I don’t love veterinary medicine.
I have been craving making art again. Besides a little bit of drawing, I really haven’t done any art in quite some time. I mean, sure, I designed and created the wedding invites and such, but I have been really wanting to paint or make pottery–something that I didn’t think I had the time or space to do…until now.
I registered for a beginning handbuilding/wheelthrowing class. I figured I’d start back at the basics since I’ve been out of the studio for about 6 or 7 years. I signed up for the Thursday night (7-10pm) class, since I usually have Thursdays off. Then Saturdays are open studio from 10-6, so even if I work, I should be able to get some studio time in during the afternoon. I am very excited! I can’t wait to play around with clay and make new stuff to cram into the apartment. haha
The thought of getting back in the studio is a little daunting, but I think I’ll love it.
The studio is located about halfway between my work and our apartment, so it should be pretty easy to get there.
Yay! I’m so frickin’ excited. I think it will really help balance out my brain and bring me a little peace and joy that I’ve been craving.

• Leave a comment... (0)