New Pots for an Exhibition with Manu Berry
A print maker friend of mine, Manu Berry, has invited me to have an exhibition with him in his studio in George Street, Dunedin. For various reasons, the deadline for this has had to be very short, so I have been really busy making new pots on the wheel, and other projects have had to go on hold for a couple of weeks.... including this blog!
Most of the pots that I have been making have been a little bit larger than my usual ones, and I have tried to push my technical skills along... sometimes with frustrating results, as... yet another large pot wobbles, loses 4 inches in height, then folds itself into a forlorn mess on my wheel head.
Tall pots... currently about 21 inches in height (53.3 centimeters).Anyway, I have battled on, and have the first bisque load cooling down in the kiln as I write this. I will make a few more pots this week, then it will be glazing and firing until March! Most pots will be crystalline glazed.
The exhibition will open near the beginning of March, I think it will be 4th March, but I will confirm the dates tomorrow when I visit Manu in Dunedin.
I'll post again soon (I hope!), but must dash now... one more job to do before giving up for the day!
Comments
Good luck with the exhibition. That bottle at the top - the carved one - is fab.
Thanks for the encouragement about the "lift" or lack of it. It would be nice to do an Isaac Button and whoosh aloft a huge quivering pile of soft clay into a magnificent big pot, but... it is good that there are other ways of achieving something of a reasonable size!
Great shape and the pattern just makes the form really stand out.
Anyway, I've been here lurking :)
I'd like to feel how heavy some of those pots that Isaac Button made were. There are still potters like that - but they're few and far between I think. Well, that's what I like the believe. I have a nice DVD of Ken Matsuzaki making big pots, all coils. One day, I'll be brave and try it.
Best wishes for a highly successful exhibition.
Thanks very much for your comments. Sorry to be a few days replying to most of you... it has been a busy week (again!).
Hi Meredith.., The "cable knit" observation is very apt! It was one of those patterns that started innocently enough with just the idea that it would be good to do some vertical lines all the way around the form... then I discovered that a little wooden throwing tool made nice marks if dragged down and across the raised bits... About one quarter of the way around I was regretting having started, as it was all taking way too long... About one third of the way around.. I suddenly thought..., "I wonder if it has the right number of lines for the pattern to match up!!!??" It did, thank goodness. I really liked it once it was finished!
Hi Patti,
It is frustrating when things go wrong, but it is just one of those things that I would call "growing pains"!
Hi Linda,
I have tried the two part method, but I have had more success with the coil and throw approach. Coil and throw is slow in comparison, but I think the form is less mechanical (in my hands anyway!!).
The Net is wonderful for potter's videos, I always feel so thankful to potters who post videos of themselves working, it is an enormous help to those of us who make pots in relative isolation.
Hi Kitty...
Mmmm, texture! I was getting desperate for some after making relatively smooth pots for crystalline glazes for so long.
Hi Angie,
I should make a potter's video of great potting disasters with pots collapsing on the wheel to suitable music.. it could be quite funny, and something positive to do when I am having a bad throwing day!
Hi Andrew,
Sorry that you have had your own "wobbles" to contend with. It is awfully tough sometimes (I would never tell the half of it here), and the mountain of selling and making work whilst still maintaining some remnants of self esteem is very daunting. Glad that you are still making pots. I love the video of you making a cider jar on your new site.
Hi Ang,
It is amazing how much difference even 10 percent shrinkage can make when something is half a meter or more tall.
The getting short and thick thing is hilarious to watch really. The clay I use will slump several inches in no time at all if I have spent too long pulling it up into a tall cylinder. It is like throwing in reverse!
Hello Pat,
I do look at that decorated pot and think that I might just put a really simple thin white or pale green glaze over it and leave it like that. It does look nice all dry and white and ready to go in the kiln.
Hi Jim,
I am bisque firing the tall pots as I write this, they went in the kiln with about 3 inches to spare. It will be interesting to see what they shrink down to. If I fire them hot enough I will have a form of Bonsai potting!
I did see Gaëlle Haubtmann throwing two days ago, and she tell us, she need 1 kilo more, to throw 1 cm /0.4 inches higher (when pots are more than 20 inches).
Wish you a good exhibition with Manu Berry, and all the best.
Have a good Sunday ?
How nice to hear from you. I was reading your blog yesterday and saw how busy you are. I wanted to leave a comment, but I was busy too! I was firing the kiln.
I am not really sure how much clay I used for those pots before adding coils. I did not weigh it. My clay comes in 20 kilo bags, and I often cut that into six for medium sized pots. Large pots may sometimes start with about 6 or 7 kilos.
I must go now as someone has arrived,
best wishes,
Peter
It's so difficult to throw so much clay !!! Hands and arms and body have to be so powerful. I tryed 1.5 kilos and my hands are not strong enougth.
Last days, for me at Matthieu's studio.... We are learning glazes, and Seger Formula, it's the second session, today I made many tests with crystalines glazes, looking foward to see them fired, in his gaz kiln, in oxydation. So I am thinking of you !!! I will post some photos.
Kind regards to you, Laura and the cats