on February 5, 2011
The great thing and the frustrating thing about pottery is that you can do so many variations to achieve different outcomes. But, clay takes time to dry, it takes time to fire both greenware and bisque. First you form the piece, it takes a certain amount of time to dry without cracking. You have to handle it with care. Not too fast, not too slow, just right. And for me at least, living in Michigan, drying time varies with the seasons. In the summer sometimes, you can place pieces outside to dry in the summer shade. Not so in the winter. The house is dry and the basement studio is dry and cool, it changes the drying times drastically. Not easy to wait for an outcome when you are so excited to finish a project.
Yesterday, I finally was able to fire the kiln, once again filled with test tiles for the archeological project. There is a heart-pounding excitement as you reach for the handle, still warm and sometimes too hot to touch without a protective, heavy duty glove- if you are too impatient which is most time! It is like opening a birthday present. Yesterday, after a full day of teaching teachers, social worker, principal and aides, the CPI training in my district, I rushed home to the kiln. When I opened it I could tell in just that moment that I finally did achieve the golden color I had been searching for, to reproduce the beautiful patina on the sherds from England. And as close as I can expect, I got the exact color of those found at the dig in the Carolina’s.
Now, to form the cups and mugs using the sherds and the photos of pots in museums. That challenge is easy. With the measurements from the archeologist, photos to go by and my basic knowledge of throwing and slab forming, it will be easy now to make a plate, and a couple of mugs. Forming them is easy.
However, the challenge now lies in doing vertical slip lines and achieving the same look as the pots had 300 years ago. They had some trick, thicker slip, a lathe set up and other techniques unknown to me, to get the slip to stick and trail on a vertical surface of a mug. I have done that in the past, but it was rather ‘sloppy’ and I know they want it a little neater. So off I go, now that the snow is cleared in our second snowstorm of the week, at least for now I can attempt to decorate a few mugs and chargers.
