This little nerd has been very sweet recently for some reason.
Maybe she knows that spring is coming?
Underglazed, unglazed frost porcelain:
I love the feel of unglazed clay. Most of my handbuilt things feature unglazed clay--though most of my thrown things are fully, shinily glazed. ("Shinily" is not a word is it? Well, I guess it is now.)
There are some things that I think are the mark of a natural potter but which have nothing to do with the quality of her work. One of those things is a love of the earthy, swampy smell of clay when it's well-rotted down. Another of those things a love of clay in every state, but an especial love for clay when it's not yet fired or when it's unglazed. I'm most impressed by potters who understand that the work isn't really about them, but about hewing close to nature, which means that it's really about the clay, straight from the ground.
Reading Reading
Currently mired in a boarding school in England, one hundred and seventy years ago, listening to thirteen-year-old schoolboys recite from the Illiad and plotting out their great thrashings of their unruly schoolmates. Via Thomas Hughs's Tom Brown's School Days.
4 comments:
I don't know if I've ever said, but I really like your work! I always wanted to learn how to throw pottery, but never really got the chance.
On a holiday to Sado Island, DH and I did a class? for tourist and each of us made a cup. Mine was a tea cup, his was a beer mug. When they arrived in the mail a few weeks later we were so proud of ourselves!
How is Tom Brown? I've never read that one.
Hi Helen! Thanks! Pottery is a fun hobby. You'll laugh, but I *hated* working with clay and especially throwing pots when I first started and only kept up because Dave wanted to and we had already paid for 8 lessons. Otherwise, I would've given it up completely! Funny, no?
Tom Brown is really interesting! I'm enjoying it thoroughly. (Free to download if you have an e-reader, too.)
hola! I prefer the leather-hard stage of clay, for looks and workability. I wish there was a way to capture that magic moment in a finished surface... tho I forget that sensibility once it's fired and I remember all the possibilities of color...
Reading Songlines.. you would mucho like. Just sayin... xo
Hola, chica!
I always try to skip the leather hard stage for some reason. I'd love to go from wet and pliable to bone dry and bisque-able!
Is Songlines the Bruce Chatwin? I remember it fondly!
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