I didn't really know what to expect as I got into wheel throwing. I knew that it would most likely be frustrating as lot of people said it would be. I also for some reason knew I would have trouble pulling up the walls (which I very much did). I found, however, that centering (for some reason) was easier than I thought... Or perhaps I just didn't do it right. I also find that after I've been wheel throwing for a while, I always look messier than the other students...I don't know why! Maybe I'm just destined to be a messy person. It certainly feels that way sometimes.
Like I mentioned, centering was easier than I thought it would be and I found that it is the easiest to do when it's done quickly. I didn't really have much of a problem until I had to pull up the walls--that part was the real pain in the booty. I really wanted to get a decent cylinder down before our wheel-throwing segment, so I just stayed after school one day, pulled up my sleeves, and dove into it as best as I could. I started playing around with the clay, making the hole I made with my thumb wider and making the chunk of clay slightly more cylindrical before I started pulling the walls up to help, and it really did. The first (decent) mug I created was the purple one, and the blue/green was the second.
Glaze has proved to be what I think might be the hardest part of ceramics to get down for me! I can't get over its unpredictability--it always takes me a while to find my fired pots because I can never recognize it the first time my eyes glide over it. I tried to make the glaze come out nicely by using the prong-looking thingamajigs...aaaanddd I dropped it. That telltale shatter is a sad, sad sound. I didn't really mind too much though because it wasn't the one I felt I did a better job on. Because I've had cases where my glaze came out too thin, I tried to make sure I got a good coat with the second one. I also overlapped two colors, and I'm guessing that the thicker double layers were a bit much. The mug ended up sticking to the kiln. I'm not sure I'll be keeping them around, just because they are pretty darn broken, but I'll be darned if I don't get a good wheel-thrown anything out of the kiln next year! I can only cross my fingers and hope I don't forget what I learned so far!
Like I mentioned, centering was easier than I thought it would be and I found that it is the easiest to do when it's done quickly. I didn't really have much of a problem until I had to pull up the walls--that part was the real pain in the booty. I really wanted to get a decent cylinder down before our wheel-throwing segment, so I just stayed after school one day, pulled up my sleeves, and dove into it as best as I could. I started playing around with the clay, making the hole I made with my thumb wider and making the chunk of clay slightly more cylindrical before I started pulling the walls up to help, and it really did. The first (decent) mug I created was the purple one, and the blue/green was the second.
Glaze has proved to be what I think might be the hardest part of ceramics to get down for me! I can't get over its unpredictability--it always takes me a while to find my fired pots because I can never recognize it the first time my eyes glide over it. I tried to make the glaze come out nicely by using the prong-looking thingamajigs...aaaanddd I dropped it. That telltale shatter is a sad, sad sound. I didn't really mind too much though because it wasn't the one I felt I did a better job on. Because I've had cases where my glaze came out too thin, I tried to make sure I got a good coat with the second one. I also overlapped two colors, and I'm guessing that the thicker double layers were a bit much. The mug ended up sticking to the kiln. I'm not sure I'll be keeping them around, just because they are pretty darn broken, but I'll be darned if I don't get a good wheel-thrown anything out of the kiln next year! I can only cross my fingers and hope I don't forget what I learned so far!