Second to Last Class and High Output

It is already our last class next Wednesday, so today was the deadline for getting anything in the bisque firing, and then glazing next week, otherwise they will need to wait until next term.  Which is not so bad.  But I still want to finish what I can.

I pulled out the 7 marbled items which I threw on Sunday, to trim them, but they were still too wet, so I decided to throw a few more sodium silicate pots.  Especially since my star stamps arrived in the mail, and I wanted to try a new technique of mixing the sodium silicate directly into the slip before applying it.

I ended up throwing 4 pieces.  Here are a few photos :

This is the first one, using the star stampers.  The slip was a mixture of black slip and textured slip.  It ended up pretty thick, so I applied it to the pot with the back of a spoon.

Here it is again, a bit better photo, showing how the WSO/sculptural clay shows through between the black slip.

Then I threw a second one which was almost the same, just a bit larger.  I am absolutely loving this shape.  I guess that's why I keep throwing it.

Here are the two together, so you can see the relative sizes.

The third one was even larger, and I decided not to use the stars, just try for a lot of lumpy texture.  As I was pushing it out, I could see the pot slumping onto the bat, so I pulled it off, and suspended it upside down on this stool, to revive the shape.  It worked like a charm.

Here is the underside of that big pot.  Since I was trimming them pretty fresh (forcing them a bit with the heat gun), and because I like playing with interesting feet, I ended up trimming each one different, but a lot of multiple feet.  I really liked the way this one turned out.

My final (fourth) pot today was probably the lumpiest of all, and smallest.  I used up the remainder of my WSO clay bag.  Again, I forced it with the heat gun, so I ended up throwing and trimming all four new pots today.

Then I trimmed all 7 of the marbled pots which I threw on Sunday.  I was really busy right up to the end of day, finishing all those, so didn't take much in the way of photos.  But here are a couple of them :

Very nice marbling.  I look forward to seeing if I can preserve and enhance this pattern during glazing.

Again, playing with the multiple feet.  This one, that wonky bowl.

Oh, and I should add that one of my pieces was selected for a student display in the window again.  This little one.  It's not my favorite, but I'm proud to have him selected.

He will take the place of the triangle platter which has been on display since about December.  I got to bring that sweet little platter home finally.

I hope to have time this weekend to take some good photos of my new pieces. We'll see.