Yum.

I made some mac’n'cheese this weekend and baked it in my new ceramic dishes. It was delicious– and something about eating it in dishes I made myself made it extra yummy!

After the Fire(-ing)

We went to pick up my ceramics today since my class ended last week. It’s always suprising to see them after they are glazed- they are like entirely different pieces. I’m not in love with a lot of the glazes the studio has on hand, but I think part of it has to do with using stoneware clay. Overall I liked my porcelain (handbuilt from molds)  pieces the best, although it was nice to see I made some progress on the wheel (w/stoneware). Here are some of my favorites:

Doily Plate: Even though this cracked, I still really like it. I threw the plate on the wheel, trimmed it, then added a slip-soaked doily to the top. Strangely the crocheted part made it, but the fabric part was too solid. It burnt away in the firing (as expected) and kind of feels like a sand dollar now. I still want to expirement with this technique in the future. I’m also quite happy with my little ruffly pie crust edge.

I really love these little pyrex inspired dishes. The lace imprints on the inside didn’t show up as well as I’d hoped (in some cases) but they were lots of fun. I’d like to do more of these, too, and perfect my craftsmanship. I rolled lace into the clay and made the shapes, then painted them with an underglaze and carved the designs with a loop tool. Once fired, I stained the lace impressions and dipped it in a clear glaze.

Here is a side view.

 

I also made these little porcelain dishes…same kind of idea with the lace and woven bamboo samples. The one that looks white was actually a little filet crochet imprint of a house, but I guess I needed to apply more pressure. Next time!

And here are a couple of my wheel-thrown bowls. The one on the right is my first successful bowl and I like its uneven sides and pod-like shape. I melted a glass marble in the bottom during the firing, which made the glaze flash green, so that was pretty cool and unexpected. There’s some carving that’s hard to see in the pic as well. The blue bowl was painted with an underglaze, carved, fired, then dipped in a midnight blue glaze.

What’s really need is I could actually use these dishes and bowls in the oven and eat out of them, etc. For some reason I never do- but maybe this time. I think I may take another class and go for a big lasagna pan or something.

Oh yeah, and if you’re a member of my family or a close friend, I should have warned you to close your eyes as these might be coming your way at the next gift-giving occasion. But you’ll probably forget by then, so it’s okay.

New Issue: Crochet Today

As promised, here it is: my blatantly self promotional post. Just to prove I’ve been working on some worky type things. Here are two little projects of mine from the new March/April issue of Crochet Today.

    

The crafty cuffs and spiral change purse are mine. They’re fun and quick, let me tell you. I think I started these shortly after I moved here– I was still trying to get my head on straight at the time. 

   

This issue has some really pretty home projects. This vintage runner redux is totally my speed (love to crochet those lace patterns in a larger scale….even if I’m not a table runner kind of girl), and I looove the color wheel pillow. As in, one day, when I have time again, I might even make it. 

And did you know that Crochet Today also has podcasts? I vaguely remember the staff working on one while I was still around in NYC, but then I read about them on Crochet By Faye and had an “ooooooh….yeaaaaah” moment of recollection. I proceeded to dork out and watch every last one of them. I miss working with a bunch of fun ladies. Hi Brett and Sara!

I feel much better today. I was up and at ‘em this morning, then I rode the bus downtown for my pottery class. I’m pretty excited about some pieces I made from molds last week. They have doily imprints and are painted to look sort of like old pyrex casserole dishes. I only have 2 more weeks of the class…. and then I’ll be posting some results. I think I’ll go in tomorrow and take one last shot on the wheel. The wheel is so different from handbuilding- it’s all about relinquishing control for me. Sometimes I end up with something pretty, other times, a pile of mud. Good practice for life, I say.

Ceramics Class!

Seeing as I just signed up for my second ceramics class (starts tonight!) I thought I should finally get around to showing off my wares from the first. 

Ever since I moved here I’ve had an extreme itch to take a ceramics class. Clay is big in Montana- and I used to take classes while getting my undergrad art degree, so I couldn’t resist when I saw a weekend workshop called “Teapots and Serving Trays.” I took it in early November with artist Lea Zoltowski (whose work is unlike any ceramic sculpture I’ve ever seen). I got  my pieces back from the glaze firing in December and I am pleasantly surprised with how they turned out, because I had no color tiles to look at when choosing these glazes. I really enjoyed making them, but worried about the glazing process which was rushed and disorganized. It all worked out okay though, didn’t it?

To create the texture on the serving trays, I pressed vintage lace and doilies into the wet clay. The glazes worked splendidly at filling in the cracks, and I love the subtle color changes in the oval tray, although they  might be a bit overstated in these photos, thanks to winter light. I even like the crack in the square platter. Enjoy the gratuitous photos (more on my flickr).

 

This teapot was a beast to make. It’s gigantic, but it’s functional, so I’ll probably have to serve tea from it at least once. Again, the glaze is totally different than what I imagined, but in a good way. We made our teapots using paper pattern pieces–the process was very much like dressmaking. It’s not a technique I’ve ever seen taught in ceramics, but it makes a lot of sense– make the piece from paper first, then work with the clay. That way if it doesn’t line up, you won’t have wasted too much time.

I’m looking forward to the next seven weeks of classes, because I hope to finally master the wheel. Or, at least begin!