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There is a lot of room for improvement, but part of what I like about pottery is the iterative nature.
The colours look so much closer to the candy colour when the candy is in it, except for the green which makes it look like a mistake.
I used this vessel as a test for some of the glazes in a sample pack I bought. I wanted to approximate the colours so I picked the closest ones in there. Here it is empty:
Eat eat eat
I admire your pursuit of the trivial.
Lol you read my mind
Mine too! Mmm pies
I like that it's imperfect.
Everything is just so perfect these days, even when it's hobby work people tend to go out of their way to make molds or stencils or find other tools to ensure exact measurements.
There's something really satisfying about seeing something that was done with great love and care for the sake of the the hobby and the enjoyment.
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.
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.
I'd never thought of it like this but yeah. That makes a lot of sense.
Also, you said "kiln", which always makes me rewatch this.
I love Aunty Donna!
I do not love the idea of walk-in kilns. Mine opens from the top and is much smaller lol.
Absolutely adorable
I like this too
I'm not a potter and have never done real pottery, but I often watch maker videos and love the whole test tile thing, which I find fascinating. There's one guy on YT, Old Forge Creations, who makes a lot of short form content about literally just test tiles. Don't know why but I find them mesmerizing.
For myself I'll never throw clay again (in the US pretty much every child of the 60s and 70s had to make a shitty ashtray for their parents at some point) but I'm 100% hooked on the videos, made by people who have clearly surpassed 70s amateur ashtray design and creation. It's incredibly complex, not nearly as simple as it looks, and my hat's off to anyone who makes anything worth keeping, especially when they're doing their own glazes.
To me this bowl is genuinely cool not just for its own sake as a usable item but as a sort of next-level test tile. Do you have any plans to make another, not as a glaze test but on its own merits? Because this one ticks a number of boxes for me personally: imperfect symmetry (a folksy charm), color block art, and interesting shapes/colors. I'd absolutely be interested in seeing another try if you care to make a second one.
Really well done, OP.
Test bowls are super common, and usually have more info that can be gleaned from them than just one type of application.
I didn't make these:
I was just being lazy lol
Layered glazes need to be tested for food safety so I try and keep them in on the outside when I use them.
I will probably make more, yes. The original plan had fewer edges and a much more organic shape. I think I was doing a bunch of hand building so I did this for practice. I keep a sketchbook full of ideas and once and a while sneak one in with all the more routine things I'm making for other people.
These are really cool. Thank you for taking the time to explain.
it’s so aesthetically pleasing that could be used as a wallpaper
Ok Van Halen, calm down ;)
(I’m joking of course, and I admire your work!)
Holdus Infinitus, the Bowl God is happy this day
The unequal spacing is driving me crazy. Why do green and yellow get nearly half the available space to themselves? Are they the most common colors for Skittles?
I squished some mud together m8.