Since I can never let go of anything, even if it cracks or appears to have failed, so I was expecting that it would be really difficult for me to throw my work off the stairwell. But I was surprised that instead it became a very freeing experience. I threw some of my best pieces so far, during this session. I think in large part because I allowed myself to push my limits. After all, I had nothing to lose.
I was pretty pleased with some of the feet I trimmed :
Jay gave us a "throw big" challenge, and I threw 15 or 20 pounds of clay, into a really big pot :
It was funny, but he offered that if I wanted to keep it, I could. I declined, saying that if I could throw it once, I could throw it again. And I was very proud of myself for letting go of it. Here is a number of my pieces before the toss :
...and after the toss :
During the Intensive Course, I discovered that not only was there not enough time to throw and bisque fire work in the first week that we returned, for the raku firing on October 1, but we were now expected to glaze our work in advance also. So I either needed to created some work very quickly, or drop out of the raku firing. I decided to create some work. I threw two pots from reclaimed sculptural clay, and took them home to carve them, and return them to the bisque the following day :
It didn't take me long to carve them, but it took more than 6 hours to glaze those two pieces :
So I hope they are not lost or stolen, or broken during the firing! I also glazed a few more items today, so I've got my full allotment, in case the raku course goes ahead :
I say "in case", since the course has taken others by surprise also, and of the 10 people who signed up for the course, it has dropped to 5, and Jay told me today I'm the only one who has shown up to glaze my pieces. So I have a strong feeling it will be cancelled. Which would be a shame, since the weather is incredibly beautiful at the moment. And if I leave these for the raku course in November, I'm sure the weather will be rainy and miserable by then. Not to mention, I had hoped to have a few of these pieces back in time to give them as a birthday present. But it looks like that won't likely happen now.
Anyhow, it is good to be back, even if just partially. I have my Lids course with Fredi on Sundays, followed by a drop in workshop. The Lids course will be really great, as that's not something I currently do much with, and we already learned SO much in the first class I couldn't believe it. But on Wednesdays, sadly there was no course offered, so I only have the workshop. The full truth is that there was a Monday and Wednesday course offered, but like me, I think many of the people who are not retired yet, only have Wednesdays as their pottery day. Or Mondays. Not both. So that course didn't get enough participants, and was cancelled. Leaving a gaping hole in the pottery schedule, and resulting in almost nobody at the drop in workshop today (only 3 people - all retired - throwing in the studio, and me glazing in the kiln shed).
