spring handles

it had thought to pass over the whole "look at all the blossoms we have here" spring thing that happens here on the west coast…knowing friends and relations east of here are thigh deep in snow…
but, well, one blossom shot can't hurt. here's my little studio gallery with the plum tree in bloom (last week!)

and i have been contemplating handles and how one holds things and how many fingers and balance of mugs and such things for the past few months…finally sprung into action to play with a couple of handles:

handle # 1, i call the medium handle. can still get you whole hand in there, but doesn't take up quite so much of the mug:

handle # 2, i call the two finger handle, as you can get a couple of fingers in there:

the mug on the far left (navy blue) is the current handle for my regular mugs. it fits the whole hand with room to spare. large handed people like it… but i find it takes up a lot of mug and have never been completely happy with it's profile…

i am leaning towards handle #1. i like being able to still get all fingers in there and i like its profile and balance… while my current handle is pulled off the side of the mug, this new handle is pulled separately and attached leather hard.

well maybe i will make mugs with both the current and the new handles!

black and white

here's a quickie of something i made at work. i don't usually work with white clay, and rarely in my studio as everything is stained stained stained red. and i don't get much chance to work on things at work either, although i feel it's professional development to once and awhile experiment or build on techniques.
so a litte vase i threw on the wheel standing up (i have on wheel raised on cinder blocks for everyone to try. i haven't spent enough time on it yet to determine whether it's better ergonomically or not). black slip and sgraffitto. nica and simple. i quite like it.

Hump day!

Well I've been back in the studio for a few weeks now & it feels good!
you know as much as i needed a break, i do get pretty antsy when away from the studio for too long....maybe that would be different if my hiatus was spent somewhere slow & tropical...instead of here waiting for the pipes to defrost...
in any case i'm making making making with deliveries scheduled in april and some new things up my sleeve (photos as soon as they are out of the kiln!)

here's my studio shelves today as they fill up with work (and a full load in the kiln to boot!)



















today was making what i call dipper bowls, and i generally throw them "off the hump" - meaning i don't measure each ball of clay out individually like i do for most things, but simply toss a large lump of clay onto the wheel (usually between 6-8 lbs) and throw each bowl off the top of it until i run out of clay. it takes some practice to get each piece the same size, but once you get it & are in the flow its a great way to make small things, or pieces of things (spouts, lids, etc...). you don't have to centre the entire lump of clay, just the top part that you are using. it's not a radical new way of doing things but i sure like it when it's time to throw dipper bowls

here's the hump looking down from the top












here's the hump from the side, i've already thrown about half of it, glistening in the sunlight (yes it was sunny today and still i stayed in my studio!)











here's the bowls that have already come off this hump