Magic on the Wheel

I mentioned in last week's post the magic which @pradoceramics on Instagram is able to create on the wheel.  Today I was able to re-create some of that magic myself, and I was very excited about the result.  Look at these 4 vessels I created :

I had realized since last week's attempts, that when I threw the initial cylinder, it would need to be thicker and narrower, and when I inserted my hand into it, it should be dry, to create the maximum friction.  That seemed to make all the difference.

The first vessel I created, had a bit of a twist, and some nice texture, which I created with one of the bamboo tools I made in the last few weeks.  That felt really good, to see the tool performing so well.

The second vessel, I was determined to make more twisty, so I brought it in nice and narrow, too narrow to insert my hand at the top.

...but when I did, the result was magical :

For my third and fourth vessels, I decided to play with some coloured slips, turquoise and black.  The first one, I applied the slips while round, and then mucked up the pattern while flattening the sides, so reapplied slip on top, then scraped with my profile tool, as shown in the following photos :

Here is the result, when pushed out (shown with the prior 2 in the background) :

I really like the colours, and the jagged edges / spines.  The rim split a bit also, but I don't know that it bothers me.  This is clearly not a vessel which someone will drink or pour from, so I don't think the split matters, and it suits the rough and jagged nature of the rest of the vessel.

With this success, I was excited to squeeze in another try, even though I was getting tired by that point.  But I'm glad I continued.  Here is the vessel with the slip (I remembered to apply it after I flattened the sides), then scraped, and finally the pushed out vessel :

Many people commented that they liked the colours of this one the best.  A little more subtle, but still much more interesting than the single clay body.  As you can see in the final photo, my bat-mate gave out its hold while I was pushing out the vessel.  So at first I pushed out quite out of shape (bulged to one side), but then I was able to slide the bat back into roughly the center, and pushed again, and straightened it out.

Here are the top three again :

...and from a different angle, since I just can't get enough of looking at these :

Next week I hope to trim up the bottoms, without losing too much of the texture and pattern.  I can't wait to see the finished product.  Not to mention, I will likely try more of these, considering the success I've had so far.

I have a few more items on the go, including more tools which I made in the morning.  Here is a peek at the other vessel, which I started two weeks ago, to which I added handles today.  The handles I had created last week broke, so I went with a "plan B" :

I went back to a snake-handle design, which funny enough, was one of the first handles I made, way back in my second ceramics course, in 2013, which was all about handles.  Check out this post, just for fun, for my snake-y handles.  This time, I gave the snakes extra-noticeable texture, even if not a realistic snakeskin texture.