Fish Bowl

I am continuing to explore new methods...  This latest inspired by Federico Becchetti, an Italian ceramic artist I have been following on Instagram.  Here's a little sample of his work, I hope you will check out his account for more :

Anyhow, I was trying to think of what to do with my third sphere, and at first I considered doing an abstract sort of design.  But it came to me while lying in bed at night (when the best inspiration tends to come), that I would do a sort of multi-layered fish bowl.  So I started by tracing out plants for the fish bowl :

Today I had the good fortune that my kids both had homework, and my husband had work to do also, and anyhow it was raining, so they let me slip away to the open workshop at the studio.  So I was able to add the second layer of fish and plants :

The next step will be to carve out the areas between the plants (the parts scored with lines).  I'm pretty excited about this piece.  If I can get some brightly colored glazes for the fish (I'm thinking of raku firing it), this could turn out pretty cool.  Since it will have lots of open spaces, it could be a pretty cool candle holder, as well as "fish bowl".

I applied terra sig to my other spheres, at the bottom, where they will not be glazed.  I don't usually photograph other people's work, but when I set the sphere on the shelves to be bisque fired, I was so intrigued by this little roll, it looks like a yummy cocoa roll, doesn't it? 

I want to get my hands on that dark clay, eventually, too.  Especially if it stays that dark when fired.