Memories

My Facebook memories today reminded me that it was one year ago today that Demetrius and Jeff helped me move the new kiln in the building.  It was another month or so before it was up and running, of course, but this was my first big hurdle a year ago. I found out later that this day was also the first time that Demetrius ever heard me swear.  I got kind of tickled when I heard how shocked he was.  Sorry, Demetrius.

Today after church, I loaded up a glaze fire.  According to the firing log, this was the 33rd firing of Frankenkiln.  So far, so good.  I've replaced one relay and scraped and reapplied kiln wash to shelves, but otherwise, Frankenkiln is working great.

I really love Facebook memories.  I don't always share them again, but I like looking back at what was going on in my life.  One of the other memories from this date was a picture of an Art Walk two years ago.  Two years ago - before I imagined any of this.  Funny how much life can change in not much time at all, isn't it?

So what do I have to show for this week's time in the studio?

Thursday evening, I made some funnels.  I got them trimmed on Friday.  I'm keeping fingers crossed that all of these end up small enough to work for a canning jar.  My first attempts resulted in one that was perfect and two that were just a little bit too wide.

After that, I was kind of at a loss about what to work on next.  I started poking around and found a texture roller in a box on the shelf that I'd forgotten about.  I started with a couple of bowls and two mugs. Then I decided to just continue to go with that theme.  Two more mugs to make a set of four, a utensil holder, a pitcher, and a platter all with the same texture.  

It's hard to see, but each of these pieces has the same band around it.

You can tell a little better on this platter.  

I was afraid to move the platter off the wheel, so it got to dry over night right there.  This is actually the second try on the platter.  On the first try, I didn't listen to the voice that kept telling me to "quit touching it" and it collapsed.  I listened to the voice on the second try.

Saturday morning, I trimmed the bowls and platter...

...and put handles on the mugs and pitcher. (Not pictured: mugs.  You know what mugs look like anyway, right?)

I'm particularly proud of this pitcher.  I managed to really stretch the clay, so I think that even though this is large (9 inches or so high after "belly-ing out"), it will still be light weight enough to actually be used.  I struggle making pieces like this both large enough and light enough that they are usable. I was worried that I'd ruin it putting on the handle.  So far, so good though.