Autism

Thank you for your kind words.

I'm actually working on an art project that uses a mismatch between production technique and end usage as commentary. If I ever finish it, I will share it in this community because it is an expression of my experiences with autism.

This next part isn't a direct reply to you, but I'd like to use your comment as a jumping off point for a massive infodump lol:

It's not possible to achieve perfection with the methods I use in pottery. That is not the point. If I wanted a perfectly formed object, I'd be doing slip casting (molds) and not hand building. I'm not knocking slip casting as either skill or art form, nor am I saying this object shows any level of skill at hand building. It doesn't have to be quite this janky 😅

Its okay of people think this is a poorly made piece. It kind of is. My unreasonable wish is that folks would be able to tell what parts are poor execution (either by choice or lack of skill) vs limitations of the method.

Clay has a memory. Depending on how an object is formed, if you don't align all the little clay bits in the right direction they will spring back into a different shape during drying or its two trips through the kiln. You can't tell by looking at an object if it will happen.

Hand building presents the biggest challenge in preventing this. Both throwing and casting involve working with a wetter clay so you are more likely to get the alignment correct even deep within an object. Apart from being way faster and having less material loss, this is why plates are most often cast in production settings.

This object involved connecting 7 slabs of clay (bottom, wall, 5 partitions). They are attached by scoring and slipping, and then adding additional clay at the joints and smoothing it to reinforce the seam. That's where the bulges come from in the curved part of each section. The wall is pushed into the partition, leaving the curved part to flex because it has not been compressed in the same direction as the joint. I could have spent more time compressing the outer wall in different directions to redirect that 'spring' but didn't 🤷‍♀️ However, even if I did one would still expect some deflection.

In contrast, here are some throw plates. They are my first ones that I decided to fire so they are also janky but you can see how the technique used influences what flaws are present.

These are formed by pressing the clay down while it's spinning, which directs the particles to spread along the base. I kept the throw marks (concentric circles within the centre part) visible and picked a glaze that accentuated them, but the glaring flaw here is how droopy the green plate's rim is. The clay is too thick and heavy there for the type of foot it has, so it drooped a bit in the kiln. There are ways to prevent this, but because I have never fired this shape before (with this clay or otherwise), I didn't know how it would behave. I'm honestly super proud the damn thing didn't form a giant crack in the centre, which is a common failure with thrown plates.