Pottery Time!

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I'm currently taking a pottery class for the fourth summer in a row (via Doña Ana Community College's Community Education Program). I figured I might as well blog about that creative exploit, as well, because why not? It might help me get a better idea of how much I can accomplish for next time, at least, as I always have about a million projects I want to complete and not enough time to do so. So being able to prioritize and plan better would be swell.

Anyhow, I'm nearly done with my first project. The first class was on Thursday and we spent an hour or an hour and a half discussing what we all wanted to accomplish. The class I'm in is for "advanced" students (aka we've all taken pottery at least once before), so we all have ideas on what we want to do. My list of things I want to make is, of course, extensive. ;)

After that, our instructor encouraged us to try making a "30 Minute Teapot" which has now taken me at least 4 hours, but I can never do anything simply, so it's all good. The teapots are made by rolling out clay and draping it over a small bowl or similar shaped object which is first covered in cling wrap. Then the top is cut out, spout attached (after cutting out a hole where it will sit), handle attached, and finally when the teapot body is leather hard it is removed from the form and attached to the bottom.

This is what I got finished during the first class:

The lid was done (it's meant to represent spiky hair), but that was about it. The teapot was planned to be an elephant man kind of thing.

During the second class, this afternoon, I finished the spout and handle. The handle and lid will be glazed black, as they are both hair; the elephant dude has kind of a mohawk going on. The teapot is now nearly finished except for trimming and cleaning up the bottom.



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