My Majigger!

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Last night was the third pottery class of the summer. I finished up my teapot by cleaning it up a bit, paring down the excess clay on the bottom, and embiggening the hole in the spout, as I was a little paranoid about how small it'd be after the clay shrinks and glaze is applied. I tried to model the shape of the spout hole after an electric kettle I have which pours magnificently. The spout hole in that kettle is slightly oval, flat across the top, and doesn't spill even a drop of water. Whether or not my teapot will pour well remains to be seen, of course...

Next I started on a majigger for my grandma. It's a silk flower holder (doesn't that sound nicer than "fake flower holder"? One of the other students came up with that ;) ) and will be finished with the horse hair technique. This means I'll have to burnish the clay and paint it with terra sigillata, then it will be bisqued and later fired in the raku kiln. Then I'll put horsehair or other organic combustibles e.g. feathers on it while still hot from the kiln. Epic. Here's what I've done so far:


The holder still needs to be cleaned up a bit, as I was in a rush to get it assembled before I left last night. To make it, I used 1/2 and 1/2 clay (admittedly I've forgotten what precisely it is half and half of...), cut a piece off a fresh block, and rolled it out. Then I cut out the 3 legs of the holder, assembled them, and cut out triangular holes in each. Flowers can be placed in those holes and in the very top of the piece, so it's versatile and things. I was concerned about the piece's structural integrity so I used my remaining clay scraps to create the "belt" surrounding the holder. The only other embellishment I might add to the piece is carving a few lines on the legs or belt; the clay must be smooth for the horsehair technique to work, so most of the body of the work needs to be without texture or carving.

During the next class I hope to work on some sculptural pieces. I'm also going to have to reevaluate and reprioritize my list of projects I want to do, because I really don't have time to do them all, and my schedule got a bit out of whack by spending 2 sessions just on a teapot I hadn't planned to do. The teapot is pretty awesome though, so no regrets!

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