plates and progress

This week we have been throwing plates. Plates are a little easier to throw, but the drying time for plates is a little slower than everything else. I was going to trim them today, but they were still wet so I flipped them over and I'm going to let them dry a little longer.

Thursday we finally got some good weather to work on the train kiln. We got a lot of the wall done and we got the arch up. so far the kiln is looking amazing. Hopefully tomorrow will have some good weather so we can work on it some more. I'm ready for the kiln  to be done so I can fire some of my thrown pieces. Next we are going to be throwing lidded vessels.

Mugs

We started throwing mugs this week and so far it is my favorite thing we have done. The most challenging thing about the mugs construction is the handle. The handle must be made for that particular mug and sometimes the handle you make doesn't look right on the mug so you have to start over. All and all the mug component is very enjoyable and I will continue to throw mugs.

Hopefully this week we will be able to work on the kiln. The weather last week was not good enough to work on it. I just hope we don't get to far behind because I would like to wood fire some of my  mugs. The next thing we are going to be doing is throwing vessels with lids.

Progress

This week we worked on finishing the bowls we were to throw. Brian didn't get a chance to check them Tuesday, but I'm sure he will check them this Tuesday. Last week we worked on the kiln and we got a good portion of the inside of the kiln done. It's starting to look really good.

Thursday almost everyone went to Kentucky for a show and I couldn't attend it because I work right after class, so instead I worked on my glaze calculation component and finished it. Hopefully the weather stays nice so we can work more on the kiln because if not we might get behind. I think we are throwing mugs next and that's what I've been excited to do.

Throwing bowls

This week we continued to throw and we are doing bowls. To me bowls are easier to throw than cylinders.  Throwing is starting to come a little more nature now that I'm doing it a lot. The only thing I need to work on when throwing bowls is before I take it off the wheel, I need to snow-plow more of the bottom of the bowl off. I think trimming the bowls is my favorite part about the process. It makes them look a lot cleaner and it's really easy to do.

For this week I'm going to be working on the glaze calculation project. I'm goin to be changing to percentage of EPK in the Shino glaze to see what kind of colors we can get from it. I've never mixed a glaze before, but I'm sure if I need any help Brian will assist me. After I finish the glaze calculation I believe we are going to be throwing mugs and that's what I've been trying to do, because I need a good coffee mug.