Final Trimming and Glazing in Pots and Tools Course

Last week I finished all my trimming, and this week all my glazing (for anything which has come through the bisque firing).  Sadly, our Pots and Tools course has come to an end, so now it's just a wait until the pieces are fired and available for pick up, and a wait until the next course, a garden themed one, starts in April.

I was now sure how I would trim the twisty pots, but with the help of a chuck, I was able to center and trim a foot onto the bottoms :

It's not so obvious from this photo, but the trimming didn't remove that rough jagged look, but lifted them ever so slightly off the table, so I will be able to glaze them fairly easily.  I plan to use Gerstley Borate for some of them.

Trimming has always been painful for me, but last week it went relatively smoothly.  I even created a new three-ringed foot, which has some potential for becoming a signature foot for me.  What do you think?  :

I had enough time, after the trimming, to play with some of the bowls I threw with sculptural clay, which I plan to use for raku firing.  Since they are not supposed to be used for liquids, I decided the best way to avoid this may be to pierce them.  So I carved and pierced the 2 shallow bowls / plates, and 2 rounder bowls, with a floral design :

I'm pretty pleased with the results.  I am hoping that with the raku firing, rather than our usual Cone 10, I will be able to get some brights reds and yellows.  Based on my experience and results from the last one-day drop in raku session, it should be possible.

This week, in addition to glazing, our class made some hole-poking tools, by cutting sections of very narrow metal (copper, I think) pipes.  We made corresponding wood handles which fit inside the pipe, to push out the clay plugs.  (Sorry, I didn't take a photo, and too lazy to make one now.)  So I decided to try these out.  The two that I made performed much better than the hole maker which I had bought, which has a comfortable wood handle, but plugs up easily with clay, and is difficult to dig it out, even with my pin tool.  So here is the result of my hole poking, a candle holder which I also hope to finish in the raku firing :

I didn't want to spend too much time with the piece which I had thrown as a human sculptural form.  So I carved a quick face and dress, and will consider her done, I just need to glaze her.  She has a hole in bottom and top, so can be a piece for my garden totems, as I hope to build more totem pieces (see one of my two totems from last year here) in my upcoming course.  Here she is :

Next time I post, I hope to have finished pieces to show off.  Stay tuned.