Handles and Molds

I’m a huge fan of handles, I will look at a pot, and something that always goes through my head is “Where can I put handles on this sucker?”.

I am constantly spending a lot of time, not only making pots, but making handles.  Handles are just as hard to make and get right as are the rest of the pot.  I’m on a quest to get my handle, to make a handle that I’m very proud of.  It’s slow going but I’m always getting closer and closer.  Of course I sometimes look at a handle and say “Yes! I got it!”, then a week passes and I see something that wasn’t quite right with that handle, and I keep going to try to fix that on the next one.

Mug Handle

This is the type of mug handle that I’m currently working on.  I like the ‘edges’ aspect to the attachment rather than smoothing it right into the mug, it lets me put the handle onto anything (over stamps and textures) without messing up the surface.  It’s also really nice when the glaze collects in those areas.

Alternate Mug Handle

The London Potter’s Guild is participating in a mug sale at the Museum London Gift Shop.  They asked anyone that was interested to make 4 mugs that were different from what you would usually make.  I usually make the cylinder mug, with no trimming.  So I thought I would go as different as I could, I made this shape with trimming, a plate and an upside-down handle.

Oval Handle

Just an accent handle on the end of some ovals that I made.

Glaze Test

Here is a glaze that I’m currently working on.  I got the recipe from Chris Hierlihy.  It fits great, and does everything I want it to do, I’m just working on getting the colour right.  Look at that great ‘blip’ on the foot there, and the way it pools into the handle edges, yum!

Slump Mold

And lastly I’ve just started working on some really long-boat kinda dishes, with some texture in them.  This is the mold I’m using.  Hopefully I’ll get some done soon and post them! I bet they’ll have handles on them!

Mugs and Bowls

Fancy Fruit!

I can already tell that Im gonna be terrible at keeping this blog up to date!  Ive been fairly busy though, in and out of the studio.

Fruit Bowl

Plaster Dome Maker

Foot rings

Plaster Dome Maker

Fancy Plate

Ive been making these Fruit Bowls.  I really like them.  I was thinking I wanted to make some really shallow platters, but I also wanted to be able to add texture to the middle.  So this is what I decided to do.

I remember someone I went to school with told me that if you wanna make a shallow dome out of plaster, then you should put some plastic over a garbage can and pull it tight.  When you pour the plaster over the plastic it sinks in just a little, and then you are left with the most beautifully smooth shallow domes!

I then threw some flat slabs and used a textured roller on them, placed them texture-side down on the domes, and threw a foot ring on them.  Voila!  I added a coil to it after to get the extra rim.

Im really liking them, and of course falling asleep thinking of all the ridiculous shapes of things other than garbage cans that I can put a plastic bag over! Hence the roasting pan.

First Batch

Pasta Bowls

Bowls and Cups

Pitchers

Pitchers

These are the first real pots off of my new wheel.  I got the boxes of clay from the London Potter’s Guild.  Once I have enough for a kiln load Ill be heading over there with the pots (hopefully none break en route!) to fire them and get them glazed and ready to go!

Im not sure what glazes they have available there, I probably shoulda checked.  Im gonna be looking around for some other glazes that I had in mind while making these pots, and probably mixing up my own.

Also! Ill be getting the process pictures I took of my wheel tonight, so Ill be able to post them all and get a nice little guide on here for what I did.  So far the wheel is great, I havent had any problems with it and its really fun to use.

I made a wheel!

I made it all myself!

Thats the first pot on that new wheel.  Im pretty happy with the wheel, it runs a lot slower and different than Im used to, but Im getting the hang of it, and starting to turn things out just like before.

Over the next little while (once I get the old camera photos back) Ill start posting and narrating some process on how I made the wheel.  I was also thinking I might make a video and post it on you tube just to show the wheel in action.

These were the plans that I got to go off of while making it, make sure you click one of those first links, just to see what I got to deal with!

http://www.duke.edu/~msm5/pictures/treadle_plans.html

Too much text!

I just went and joined my local “London Potter’s Guild”.  That’s London, Ontario, not England.  Joining your local guild is probably your best bet.  At the London guild they have a wholly new renovated facility with new kilns, wheels and anything you could ever want and are too poor to have!  I plan to be doing most of my work here, and then transporting it to be fired when needed over at the guild.

They are a very nice bunch of people, Ive only met a few of them so far and they are very eager to have me around.  They suggested that I bring in a few pictures of my work as well as to talk a bit about my interests etc.  Compared to many of the people there I have a lot of experience since I went to school for ceramics as well as worked for a couple of potters.  I am very much interested in teaching some classes there, and they mentioned that I could start out with a workshop over a weekend or something to get to know people and show them what I can teach.

I know! No pictures so far, even though I mention that I like pictures on blogs.  As soon as my work room is clean I will be taking my very first pictures of my work space and wheel/wedging table etc.  Ill even bring the camera down to the guild and take a few pictures of the great facility.

First!

I like looking at other people’s blogs, mostly for the pictures!  I usually decide whether I like a blog or not within a minute or two, just scrolling through their history and looking at the pictures that they’ve posted.  If I like the pictures then I might read some of the posts to see what the pictures are about.  If I like what is written then the blog goes into my favourites and I then look at the new pictures when its updated!

I find Blogs to be a very good source for learning new things.  Since Im rather new into the world of pottery, Im very much still learning.  That is what this blog is going to be about.  I hope to be able to keep this blog up to date of all the things that I’m doing and learning along the way to becoming a studio potter.  One day Id like to call a small studio and gallery my home, where I make and sell pots.

I attended the Sheridan College Ceramics program.  I studied with Bruce Cochrane, Tony Clennell, Dale Pereira and the studio tech: Hugh Douglas Murray.