Community Challenge #4

[Rebekah Krieger]

Here is my update for today. I added my vulture goddess. I also included a reference shot for form inspiration.

 

 

I threw the belly at 6lb and the top half was 3.5

[Rebekah Krieger]

Oops forgot my form reference

[Benzine]

Rebekah,

 

I actually prefer your latest design, to the one that broke.

 

And in regards to my entry, I'm working on glazing it now.  Should be done in a few days.

[Rebekah Krieger]

Thanks! I can't wait to see yours glazed.

[oldlady]

like the video, joe, very good.

[ChenowethArts]

Here is my update for today. I added my vulture goddess. I also included a reference shot for form inspiration.

 

 

I threw the belly at 6lb and the top half was 3.5

I have no problem at all with the idea of multi-level assemblies.  I do admire people who can do this in one piece, but I certainly do not count myself among that group.  I do like the addition of your vulture goddess...creating a hydria-type title with a goddess reference isn't a stretch for me at all. Nicely done!

[ChenowethArts]

So just for kicks here is my video of me failing to make this form. I am bringing my shoulders in too flat. I collapsed all 3 pots. The last pot I was just tinkering with to see what I could get away with as far as a blow dryer, never did that before so i wanted to push it as far as i could for experience. The first 2 hunks of clay were about 7-8 pounds the last one was 15. I figured recording myself making this would show me exactly where it went wrong. I think it worked pretty well.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrYNuPLTafE&feature=youtu.be

 

Video is about 4 minutes. The form is a lot harder to make than I thought it would be. That shoulder gets me because you need to have enough clay to shoulder in and bring up a collar and then make a rim. I think I have how to do it in my head now. I will try more tomorrow.

 

I have never made this form before, or ever tried to throw this much clay on a tall cylinder, only bowls.

 

EDIT:

 

I finally got the form on attempt 4. The neck isn't as tall as I would like, but what ever. I am not spending any more time on throwing another.

 

I will attach handles tomorrow probably. No idea how I am going to glaze this thing.

I've never been brave enough to post a 'failed throw' video before so I wanted to give your kudos for sharing.  If you've ever seen a basketball highlight film before, you might assume that every shot that a player makes hits the basket...and we know that isn't so.  There is indeed much to learn from watching attempts. I snagged a couple of ideas from your wedging and centering that I probably haven't considered for a long time.  The whole collaring thing with a pot this size is a challenge and if anything, I learned that the dryer I can keep the clay, the better,  once the basic cylinder is pulled and I am satisfied with wall thickness.  I may still do collaring a a fairly high wheel speed, but for me, the bellying-out/shaping stage is done at a much slower rate.

 

Again, thanks for posting this.  I want a bunch of Clay II class students to view this...they've been throwing for 2 weeks and wondering how anyone ever throws more than 2 pounds of clay

 

Peace,

-Paul

[Joseph Fireborn]

Glad some people liked it. I recorded myself to see how I was failing because I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it on the first try. Then after I was watching the first attempt I was like I should record the rest of it and compile it as fast speed for some entertainment value. I am glad it was enjoyable. I realized the main thing I was doing was creating a shoulder to fast before blow drying the clay. On attempt 4 I pulled the sides slower with a rib on the outside instead of my fingers so that the rib would dry the clay a bit. Then I pulled a soft shoulder like a big tall vase and blow dried it for like 2 minutes. I then brought in the shoulder a decent amount and collared the neck as much as I could. I then slowly pushed down the shoulder with a blow dryer and a rib at the same time. It was still pretty tough to do and took way longer than I would have liked. I tried to record all this but my camera battery died and I didn't know it. So I can't add attempt 4 to the clips.

 

I thought the wedging was neat to watch in high speed, it spirals around so neat at fast speed. Also just some information: the 2nd attempt was straight after the first with the same block of clay I threw the first fail with on the wheel. I just took that big mess and wedged it back up and threw it right away. Just shows how if you throw with slip and a tad bit of water you can really throw some pretty dry clay forms.

 

I also did this with my 4th attempt, although it was a few hours later because I went to dinner, but it was inside of a plastic bag. 

 

Anyways back to the challenge. I think I am going to glaze it in a green matte glazes that has some silver metallic highlights in it. Since I spray now I can actually glaze a form like this. Pretty excited about that. 

 

Looking forward to seeing everyone's finished challenge. We already have some really good finished pieces posted! I always enjoy these things. Props to Joel for coming up and organizing all this. It's neat to see people doing creative stuff based around constrictions.

[What?]

Joseph: Large pots with large shoulders; I use a heat gun or torch to set the clay up. I also have some throwing sticks to reach inside the pot once the opening is smaller than my hand should the shoulder begin to collapse. The right clay body is important as well. I have thrown a lot of moonshine jugs using Soldate 60 or B-mix with sand. Also I feel your cylinder could be quite a bit more narrow which would allow you to throw a taller thinner form. It is far easier to belly out than collar in.

[Joseph Fireborn]

Joseph: Large pots with large shoulders; I use a heat gun or torch to set the clay up. I also have some throwing sticks to reach inside the pot once the opening is smaller than my hand should the shoulder begin to collapse. The right clay body is important as well. I have thrown a lot of moonshine jugs using Soldate 60 or B-mix with sand. Also I feel your cylinder could be quite a bit more narrow which would allow you to throw a taller thinner form. It is far easier to belly out than collar in.

 

Yea I wish it had recorded the last attempt. I threw it much taller and thinner like you said. I also used the blow dryer before I formed the shoulder. Anyways I had never made anything like that with that much clay. It was fun to make, but I definitely prefer making smaller stuff in the 1-8# range.

[Benzine]

Great video Joseph.

 

To me, that's one of the most frustrating things.  Getting a good start with a large amount of clay/ form, and then having it get more and more wobbly.

[LeeU]

I'm out. I had an infestation of marauding critters in my trailer last week and ....crash....they got several green pieces including my amphora (which was decidedly clunky and I hated it anyway, truth be told). It was indeed a challenge!

[Benzine]

Here's my entry out of the kiln.  Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out.  Some spots on the exterior, and interior seemed a bit thick.  Sure enough, they were, and caused a small dunting crack toward's the base.  Despite it being fairly cool, when I took it out of the kiln, there was still some pinging.  The glaze I used on the exterior does usually craze, even under normal conditions.  It's meant to be decorative.  I'm honestly not concerned with the crack, as I obviously never intended to use this.

 

All the glazes are commercial, mostly Amaco bottle, with a couple dry  mixes from Continental Clay.  The main exterior is Amaco Sandstone (The one that likes to craze).  The Hydras have Continental Italian Green in the texture, then sponged off with Amaco Moss Agate over top.  The inside is Continental Tarnished Brass, and it was used on the Hydra's spikes and horns.  There is a bit of Amaco Jewel Brown on the eyes as well.

 

I also did a little experiment.  I broke off one of the spikes, when rinsing it off.  So I used some of the "######" mender, and glazed over top.  The mender held,until the glaze matured, and now the glaze is holding it on just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

Hahaha!  I just realized the software censored the name of the mender.  It's simply the vinegar, clay powder, corn syrup recipe.  

 

Also, I'm not sure why one of the photos shows up on its own, while the others only posted the links.  All of them were included in the same way.  Oh well...

 

EDITED EDIT:  I was able to post the photos differently, so no need to click.  Thanks for the tip(s) High Bridge!

[Joseph Fireborn]

looking awesome. 

[ChenowethArts]

@Benzine I'm admiring the skin texture of your serpentine creatures...Does your Spiny Bush Viper have a name?

Peace,

-Paul

[High Bridge Pottery]

Great stuff Ben

 

If you actually look at the code for your post (top left button that looks like a switch goes into code mode) you have this. You have added most with url tags not img tags. The link button (url) or img button are close to each other.

http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/uploads/gallery/album_1087/gallery_15067_1087_532344.jpg http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/uploads/gallery/album_1087/gallery_15067_1087_176619.jpg http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/uploads/gallery/album_1087/gallery_15067_1087_223251.jpg [img=http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/uploads/gallery/album_1087/gallery_15067_1087_800500.jpg] http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/uploads/gallery/album_1087/gallery_15067_1087_399993.jpg

[Chilly]

 

Great stuff Ben

 

If you actually look at the code for your post (top right button that looks like a switch goes into code mode) you have this. You have added most with url tags not img tags. The link button (url) or img button are close to each other.

 

 

Thanks Joel, I checked and saw the coding difference, but didn't know the implications.

[High Bridge Pottery]

One just tells the forum to display as a link and one as an image, easiest to use the buttons that generate the code from supplied link but you could write the code out if you wanted. The extra bits after the url is the text displaying in the post that you click. Could have 'click me' that goes to any link. Lots of scammers used to try and use this to get you to click what you thought was one link but sent you to another. You can always check where you are going by hovering over the link before clicking.


Here is one going to google but looks like not google. 
http://notgoogle.co.uk
 

 

Another trick if you are linking gallery pictures is when you right-click you can choose small, medium, large or direct link to get different sizes without resizing your source image.

[oldlady]

ok, joel, you have just solved my problem with type fonts.  somehow i hit that switch thingy the other day and what i saw while typing was the font my ancient typewriter had in the 1950s.  but when i hit post, the normal font showed up. i just noticed it was very faintly highlighted and got back to normal. 

 

have always wondered what that switch meant.  still don't know but thank you.

[ChenowethArts]

ok, joel, you have just solved my problem with type fonts.  somehow i hit that switch thingy the other day and what i saw while typing was the font my ancient typewriter had in the 1950s.  but when i hit post, the normal font showed up. i just noticed it was very faintly highlighted and got back to normal. 

 

have always wondered what that switch meant.  still don't know but thank you.

@oldlady You had me at switch thingy.  We'll help you get your geek on if we stay on this forum long enough

 

Peace,

-Paul

[Joseph Fireborn]

After about 9 attempts at making handles for this pot. I finally got them good enough. Tired of fooling with this thing. I mixed up some bronze green glaze that I plan to use on this pot, as well as some crystal ash glazes in random spots with dark iron under it to make it look like a rust crystalization. At least in my head it looks good. I keep telling my wife I need a projector attached to my brain so I can show her what I have in my head and what I want on my pots. If I could only do that everyone would understand me better.

 

Anywho. See attached. I am pretty happy with it. It is a slight bit wonky, but it is good enough for me. Now hopefully it will dry in time to get glazed and go to my grandmother for her birthday gift. She helped me buy my kiln so I owe her something, and she likes pottery so.. i guess its about time.

 

 

[Benzine]

@Benzine I'm admiring the skin texture of your serpentine creatures...Does your Spiny Bush Viper have a name?

Peace,

-Paul

 

Thanks Paul.  I used some texture boards that Pres recommended to me to create a rope texture, for another project.  They worked quite well for this.  No name for the serpent itself, I just call the whole thing the "Hydra Hydria".

 

looking awesome. 

 

 

 

Great stuff Ben

 

 

 

Thanks Gents!

 

And Joseph, yours is looking great as well.  I like your plan for the glazing.  It makes sense in my head as well.  And if you ever work out creating one of those idea projectors, let me know...

[drmyrtle]

Benzine, I love your snakes! Joeseph: kudos for the video. It is really great to watch the form as it shapes.

 

Me, I thought the challenge was already over . So, because I thought I wasn't going to have to fess up, I threw "two"; one is more like a bottle that I made into a ewer cause three handles was two too many. The other... I spent many a night thinking to myself how smart it was to make a water carrier with a small neck to reduce contamination and evaporation, and yet how much I hate glugging when pouring. So I made this little exterior air port/tube that allows in air as it pours. They are still drying, but since others have posted greenware, Ill take some pics when I can (if my complicated computer, ahem, phone allows).

 

Quite a difficult form, although I struggled much more with achieving a tall bottle neck after the bell. I probably need to get a heat gun to dry the collar so that I can keep the bottle-tube from torquing.

[Chilly]

One just tells the forum to display as a link and one as an image, easiest to use the buttons that generate the code from supplied link but you could write the code out if you wanted. The extra bits after the url is the text displaying in the post that you click. Could have 'click me' that goes to any link. Lots of scammers used to try and use this to get you to click what you thought was one link but sent you to another. You can always check where you are going by hovering over the link before clicking.

 

 

Here is one going to google but looks like not google. 

http://notgoogle.co.uk

 

 

Another trick if you are linking gallery pictures is when you right-click you can choose small, medium, large or direct link to get different sizes without resizing your source image.

 

Oops, I think I used the wrong word.  implications.   Should have said .....  didn't realise how/why Ben got two different codes.  I got the coding, just not the route to it.  (Shut up Ann, you're just digging a bigger hole and there is sticky, yucky, smelly, anaerobic clay at the bottom, just like my garden.)

[Rebekah Krieger]

Ben! Yours looks lovely!! It is quite fitting that you made the snake (ancient symbol of masculinity) and I made the vulture (ancient symbol for feminine - nehkbet goddess mother figure of the Pharoh.... Another identity of Isis)

I am very into the way you finished the glaze and texture of your snake.