Thursday, April 23, 2015

Throwing Pieces for the Raku Course

The course starts next week, but I bought my sculptural clay and starting throwing this week already.  I got off to a slow start, taking the first hour to trim two pieces from last week.  Then in the remainder of the drop-in session I threw the following 6 pieces.

I love the shape of this first one, and was amazed that it is almost exactly what I had set out to throw.  I was trying for this flattened top, and may try to do some piercing work on the top.  I'm seen something similar, which I liked.

This second one I liked less.  It looks like it can't decide what shape it wants to be.  But it does have a nice viewable surface at the top for decoration, so I think it will work out well.

I'm not sure about this third one, the shape is very unexciting to me, but I think with some decoration I can make something of it.

It looks a bit like a wasp nest, but I think this piece will be an easy one to decorate.  I found that the sculptural clay was very easy to throw, but challenging to finish with an even edge on the top.  I kept having the edge break on me, as I brought it in, so I was pleased and surprised to end with it fairly close to what I had set out to throw.

The first four were thrown from 1200 to 1400 g of clay.  I was thinking simple cylinder when I threw this one, but with 700 g of clay, I had a bit more than I needed, so I pulled in the top, and I am SUPER happy with the shape of this one.  It already looks great to me, and it's not even decorated.

So I tried again with 500 g of clay, and got the cylinder, which I want to turn into a pierced candle holder.

So this is my 6 items.  Not bad for 3 hours of throwing (minus cleanup time).

So as I understand it, I'll need to trim and let these dry, and then apply terra sigillata before sending them to the bisque firing.  So I have much work ahead of me, but I'm excited and already dreaming of which raku techniques I can apply.  We'll be experimenting with naked raku, horsehair raku, obvara (yeast) raku and others.  I can't wait.

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