Happy Day

Today was a very good day for me.  The initial news about course availability had not been good, since I have taken the day off work Wednesdays to do ceramics, and it didn't look like there were any Wednesday-only courses offered during the Spring and Summer terms.  But today I found out that at least for Spring (mid April - start of June), there is a Wednesday morning class, and to my amazement, it was a Raku course, which is what I've been dreaming of for a while now.  I signed up immediately, and have been feeling warm and happy all day since.

I did a drop-in session on Sunday, and trimmed my crackle pots.  Here's one of my favourites, waiting to be trimmed:

...and here they are, some trimmed and sitting upside down to let their "feet" dry.

 I decided to make that not-so-crackled one a part of my yard totem, so added another hole at bottom.  As well, I threw a couple more items which would become part of my totem.

Today, I threw and slab-built a few more items for my totem, as well as a few crackle pots.  I wasn't planning to, but when one of my classmates started making a crackle bowl, I couldn't resist.  I also tried to throw a plate, using the technique of throwing a cylinder, and spreading it out using a "cow's tongue" (new tool for me).  That seemed to work quite well.  But I was so focused today, I thought about pulling out my phone and taking photos, but didn't get around to it.

On Monday, I pulled out some leftover clay I had in the garage, and pressed it onto a beautiful textured glass platter, sprinkling some corn starch in hopes of being able to remove it eventually.  Well, it has been slowly drying since, and doesn't seem to want to let go of the glass platter.  So I fear this experiment may end badly.  I have managed to cut and pry the edges free, but I don't know that it will budge.  Cutting it into pieces and reassembling doesn't seem worth the trouble.  Is there a chance that if I let it dry, it will release itself due to shrinkage?  If so, should it dry fast or slow?  Here it is anyhow, a nice base, but perhaps work which will never make it to completion, and another learning experience for me :