first week back

well for this first week back in school it was all about getting the clay i have ready to use. I first had to soften it back up from siting for the whole summer. I used some old shirts and towels soaked in water. I'm really happy with the clay i have. it's a mixture of 5 different clay bodies i had and a bunch of grog.

Yesterday i started building with it to try it out and test it. i first made a long skinny slab and proceeded to coil build on it. I built the piece on a plaster slab i made before to dry the bottom out while i was working. I made the vessel about 7 in tall. I call it a flower pot now that i finished it. i worked quick on it to see how much weight the walls could hold up before they collapsed. i reached that point. So this is what i meant i was testing. step two i also did yesterday and will check on today is, drying. as i said i built it on plaster, so the bottom will dry quick. i also just left it uncovered, which is crazy for a big piece. but i did the only thing is i covered the bottom inside to slow down the drying on that part, so the walls could catch up.

The flower pot is kinda where i wanted to go with my work for a couple weeks. this basic shape is what i want and i was experimenting with the texture. i believe now that i wanted to add coils to the outside to make a design and then add texture to them too. but didn't due to family matters that came up at last minute. This is only a test. So far so good. i like the clay and have high hopes for it. now to see if its still together, then how it fires.

sorry about the formatting of the pics. will work on top and right are finished. middle left are the slabs.