Saturday 11 February 2012

cold steaming pots!!

You can just about see the freshly thrown pots steaming in the sunshine!!

Result, 23 pots @ 7 minutes each. I lost a couple near the end as I was pushing to finish a boardful- not wise when it is beginning to freeze! I'd be happier if they were taking five minutes as that would be two hours plus throwing instead of getting on for three.
I know I'm not turning, or hardly atall with the salt pots, but it just doesn't seem much work to show.
It will probably get quicker in warmer weather. I throw with slip, so I leave the lid off the pot so that it will dry overnight, and add hot water. Both the slip pot and the clay are in the house so that they don't get ice-cold, let alone freeze!!

The sky was still clear most of ther afternoon, so I'd say that we have another cold night to look forward to.

8 comments:

soubriquet said...

Nice.

I love the smell of fresh-thrown pots.

My clay is frozen right now, each day this week I've spent at least two hours spreading grit on frozen tarmac at work, lugging bags of salt. Roll on the sunny days.

gz said...

My clay is in the kitchen, eight bags stacked by the back door!

Zhoen said...

What would happen if part of a pot froze?

Cro Magnon said...

I was always a hopeless potter, but I did manage one pot that pleased me. Unfortunately Lady M gave it to a charity shop; she didn't know that I'd made it.... such is life.

Your bases remind me of my pot!

gz said...

Z, when clay is frozen, the ice crystals disrupt the structure.
This is good when it is clay you want to mature..but in a pot, it might collapse in a heap as it defrosts. Another possibility is that you think that it is ok and fire it- and you find a network of fine cracks throughout, almost like a crazed glaze.
My bags of clay in the kitchen- I have dried the clay to the right consistency to throw, kneaded it and re-bagged it. If that freezes, when thawed I'd have to knead it all again to re-align all the clay platelets again!

The bike shed said...

I so admire that skill - I have never been any good at ceramics but I love the possibilities of clay, and I especially like 'honest' simple designs. Cider jars are current collecting fad.

Alessandra said...

Did you make these?? They look wonderful!

Ciao
Alessandra

gz said...

A, yes I made those. I'm about to put handles on them now.
greetings!