Friday’s Sparkle….in a round about way.

Hi there!
So.. you know I have been dabbling with pottery and the pictures I am going to share are the last session of my 2nd set of classes.
Those 4 items on the shelf that you see are the items that I completed this session.  Not as many as last time, but hopefully there is a little more quality than quantity this time.
Such a HUGE learning curve for muscle memory. 
This is what pottery looks like before it is fired.  It will be VERY different when it is finished.
So hard to envision when you are glazing for sure!

These Pacifica wheels that we use in the class that I am attending at our local NH League of Craftsman, have been highly recommended by a good friend who is also a potter. 
You all know me, if I love something, I will find a way to do it here, but it will be a while before I feel confident enough to even consider laying out money for a wheel, so I will keep learning in classes and watching videos.

Pottery is not very different from weaving in that there are lots of different parts to get to the finished product….but you get to play with mud piles!!  I love it!!

Learning how to center and throw clay is the biggest hurdle because it truly requires skill and muscle memory.  Then there is the trimming where you can maybe clean up your mistakes to get it ready for glazing.
The big buckets above are buckets filled with glaze, but unlike dyeing fiber, it is more of a chemical process rather than a color process.  I love seeing how this part comes out once it is finished, but it requires experience to consistently know what to expect in this glazing stage….even from those who are very experienced I am told.

This is the kiln that does all of the firing for the items we have created.  It is a big kiln that is digitally programmed.  In 2 weeks we will have a kiln opening gathering to collect the items that we created.  Hopefully my second round will be better than my first round.  If so…it is progress and I will be so happy.
(wine is included, just sayin')

Friday's sparkle…. I unexpectedly had an older manual kiln almost dropped into my lap.  It will require an electrician to do some wiring and a whole lot of babysitting that an automatic kiln would not require, but it will allow me to decide if this is something I want to pursue at a low cost before laying out some big money.
… a big sparkle indeed!