about shapes (a good cradling shape is important) and the size of the opening (too big an opening, and the liquid cools too quickly, too small an opening and the cup keeps banging into your face). The distance from mouth to bridge of nose is apparently optimal for the diameter of the brim. These things matter if one is considering a cup built to hold liquid rather than release the liquid through carefully drilled holes.
Back to the studio...
My butter dish survived the week under wraps and was worth some serious trimming, I decided.
So I set about to anchor it sufficiently onto the wheel with fresh clay. You roll up 3 snakes of clay about the width and length of your middle finger and put them around the bottom edges of the pot. This occurs after eyeballing it onto centre, and letting it rotate a couple of times - slowly - holding a finger motionless at 3 o'clock to see if the pot has an off-centre wobble. If an edge swings closer and farther away, you adjust, till the distance from finger to outside of pot is fairly even all the way around one rotation. Then you anchor with the freshly rolled clay, pull out the trimmers and spin away.
Shavings and long twists of clay that look so much like wood shavings begin to pile up around the plate.
This was the first day that the spinning wheel threatened to made me dizzy.
Once the pot is securely centred and the wheel gets going, a lot of the clay can be trimmed off to significantly change the shape. The wheel can keep going at a pretty good clip. Under these hands of mine the pot eventually begins to shift. A voice inside my head throws down a cautionary yellow flag but I ignore the flag. I think to myself - no problem. (Yes. We've heard this before.) I'll just shift with the little wonk as the pot swings deeper into the (sharp metal) trimmer at each rotation. Keep that wheel spinning. But of course the centre eventually gives way and the thing swings out of control and the trimmer causes some sharp damage to said precious pot. So much more at stake now, having decided to keep the thing intact! All is not lost. Recentre, and just keep spinning
My lovely instructor suggested as I took the butter dish dome off the wheel that I make a bit of a handle for the top, but I declined. I have been sorry every since.
I try to still the growing sense of urgency rising as my hands remain occupied with this trimming. This is the last class for throwing pots.
I had time to throw two. One mug which will remain a mug and not be rendered a succulent holder. Another one began as a mug and morphed into a creamer with a spout. Not sure that will hold. I'll get back to you on that after tomorrow.
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