Adventures of A pottery Beginner: Mug attempt Day 3

DAY 3

 

 

Day 3 was a short day. 4 balls of clay. The aim was 4 mugs practicing making a cylinder. Actual number of mugs... only One survived. Kind of a frustrating day. Three of them did whats in the video below. 

 

I think I was adding too much pressure when I was pulling up.

 

 watch this: http://youtu.be/gfU2Kl8zCYQ

1

 

 

Also I noticed with the last one that made it that the walls were very very wavy. Applying too much pressure in one spot maybe. And I was left with a super thick rim and couldn't and found myself not being able to do much with it because the middle of my mug was already buckling because of the weight up top. yikes!!!

So from those failed attempts I have a lot of wet mushy clay. The good news?  Let it dry a bit then practice wedging. Always something to do :)

 

Well this is how that turned out

 

 I trimmed this one better than I did the others. She was using a Shimpo whisper which is pretty close to the ground and I sat on the ground with my other classmate. The perfect view as you could see every turn  and angle of her hand well.  I sat and watched my teacher trim 2 bowls and she talked while trimming them on how to hold the tool when she wanted a certain effect. I tried and that helped a lot. I didn't feel so lost anymore.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201168072626614

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201168072986623

~Things Achieved~
(1)My sponge on a stick - I hot glued a sponge to a dowel I got at the dollar store. I'll let you know how it turned out
(2) Centering - I have to tell you this.. PUSH THE CLAY TOWARDS THE CENTER OF THE WHEEL with a steady hand.. it was a light bulb that went off after seeing my teacher doing it a million times and hearing it a million times on YouTube.

~Things to work on~
1) Cut your first 100 pots in half  - I got some advice from a youtube potter. Cut your first 100 puts in half and check the thickness and evenness
               - yeah I know I said " what? 100 pots?!?! soooo many and they are my babies.
               - Then he said that they are not your babies till they are fired
               - Ok I accept! Lets try to learn from this..... I didn't have to cut that cup to know it was uneven I could feel it waving in my fingers as I ran them up the sides >.<
2)Coning - I am getting better at centering but coning is still tricky for me ... more practice
3) Watching how much pressure I apply when pulling up my cylinder.
4)Wedging


~Links: ~
Day 1:  http://yolybearz.blogspot.ca/2013/05/hi-guys-i-am-expanding-my-clay.html
Day 2:  http://yolybearz.blogspot.ca/2013/05/adventures-of-pottery-beginner-mug.html






Adventures of A pottery Beginner: Mug attempt Day 2

 

 

DAY 2 

Hi everyone. This is day 2 all alone unsupervised. Good thing I have YouTube to help me. Special thanks to hobbypotter and her videos on 365 days of clay cups on YouTube. She is so right to improve you have to practice and what better way than to have a commitment to yourself to make something every day. Its fun and you really see your improvement.  Also special thanks to ThatLynnGirl  and all the other potters who was with hobbypotter every step of the way making very very informative comments. They are helping so much.  I'm currently on Day 4 of hobbypotter videos. :)

 

 



                                                          cup 5        cup  4           cup 3

So for Day 1 and even cup 3 I have been having issues pulling up a cylinder. I think I apply too much pressure in some spots and so I am thinning out the wall in some spots too much. Well lets see how cup 3 turns out on trimming day. Cup 3 too I forgot to trim the edges prior to taking it off the wheel that will be more work trimming day for sure.

Cup 4 I took a break and decided to attempt this throwing off the hump thing and try to make a miniature pot it worked for a bit but then there came those thin wall again to haunt me. Cutting it off the clay was hard too. I tried using a pin tool .... lets just say it didn't work out so well.  So again lets see what trimming day brings.

Cup 5 worked out almost perfect I was so happy. In my amateur eyes the clay was centred better than I ever got it before and I was able to pull up the walls. I'm gonna love trimming day on this one

Things that I need to practice:
1) Getting my clay centred.
2) Watching how much pressure I apply when pulling up my cylinder.
3) I will make a sponge on a stick - for when I have to dip my hand into the pot to compress and take out the water sometimes the opening is too small may hand cant fit and I end up distorting the whole thing.

Links:
Day 1:  http://yolybearz.blogspot.ca/2013/05/hi-guys-i-am-expanding-my-clay.html

My new toy Shimpo Aspire Potters Wheel

Hi Guys ,

I am expanding my clay creations to actual clay. Polymer clay is absolutely great and I still make a lot with it. In fact I am working on 40 miniature wedding cakes right now. But lets expand and learn a new skill. Lets roll with the big clay artists. I am taking pottery classes this Spring and I am so inspired I could think of nothing more than to go home and practice what I learned in class that day or what I have seen on YouTube. But with no Wifi and school and a limited amount of wheels and wheel time and just 2 classes a week and my mind swirling with ideas....... this is the result :)

 

You are looking at my Portable Clay Apartment Studio...... portable because it has at get out of the way when I am done as this is a small bachelorette apartment...lol



 

 



~Day 1 On my Own ~
I made the 2 pots below. /this is my first unsupervised wheel session. My very first two pots where made with the teacher guiding and telling me what to do....Thank you Kate and Renatta :) Now Im on my own.

So I wanted to make a mug which is a simple cylinder shape. Not so simple for my first and second try ...lol so now I turned the failed mugs into 2 bowls.

Mug Attempt 1 - Day 1

 

 

Mug Attempt 2: Upside down heart shaped Bowl 0002- after trimming - I looked over this pot before I put it on the wheel and noticed what looked like a tiny crack and thought " hmmm it looks like a tiny crack I wonder what that will do" ... well

Trimming Mug attempt 1 

Mug Attempt 1: Spoon Rest Bowl 0001 - after trimming - this one was perfect... well I mean besides not being a Mug. It survived the wheel (barely - cause I managed to get it cylinder shaped then it collapsed). It survived my beginner Trimming
skills. Then Ice had to jump in it....booooo!!!

 

Here is the Culprit!

Polymer Clay: Sweet Sop Fruit

The Sweetsop fruit. One of my favourite fruits that i miss from my home Jamaica that i have not had in a long time. It was alot of fun making this in miniature.

Polymer Clay: Ice Cream

Comming soon upload not working at the moment

but you can view it here on Facebook in the meanwhile

Polymer Clay: Dougnuts

Doughnuts

Polymer Clay: Pies

Lime Pie

Lime Pie so tiny

Cherry Pie

Polymer Clay: Cakes

Made some Cakes cause i think they are very cute

 

Pink Roses Cake with a magnet for your fridge



Christmas Yule Log Cake

 

Green Bow and Flower Cake

Calla Lily Cake

2012 Year In Review

I learned so much this year and practiced alot of the things a learned from last year. I made , gave away and sold a few things . Im so happy I hope this love of arts and craft continues. I learned there are alot of wonderful things out there to learn how to make I hope i can get to try all of them someday.

Amigurumi - Making little stuffed animals out of yarn

• Pokeball - made this into a cat toy with a gingle bell inside for my new kitty he loves it and  sold a few to others with cats :)
• Frosty the snowman - Sold to a Lady who just loved and collected snowmen
• Rasta unicorn - A gift for my cousin for her new baby
• Cup Cake pin cushion - I started sewing so this came in handy to hold all the pins i bought
• Duplex cookies and Oreo Cookies - My favourite childhood cookies... love theses

Beaded Goodies

• Beaded Collar - Made a collar with cute paws and my kitty's name : Ice
• A few Beaded bracelets - Mostly given to family and friends
• 3D Beaded Charms and things: Like a star pendant and a sack of jewels, a turtle, a doggie, a doll house table , blue penguin

Polymer Clay Obsession

• Polymer Clay Sculping tools - Made this out of clay , a needle and 2 different sized round head pins. I use then all the time to add little details to the things i make.
• Penguin
• Frosty the snowman
• Black kitten
• Mouse Holet Cheese Cake - this was so much fun to make cause i love cheesecake
• Annoyed Blue Penguin - I had a a beaded blue penguin as my shop mascot for so long and made one out of clay
• Pink bunny
• Glow in the dark rice ball - halloween inspired
• Chocolate Cake
• Candy corn and Pumpkin pie - halloween and thanks giving inspired
• Decorated pins - as i got bored of my ordinary sewing pins >.<

An awesome year :) WOOT WOOT Bring on 2013 :) Hope it will be a much longer list ... lol