Here's something my Grand Daughter made on a recent visit to my studio. I was actually trying to keep her busy and engaged when I was setting up for us to Make Something, and I gave her a piece of porcelain clay, and a wooden bowl and told her to press the clay into it, but not to pierce it with her fingers. It was an inspired idea, that has made me think that I want to make some more Very Thin Porcelain bowls. Said Grand Daughter was very specific about what colors she wanted, and how she wanted them, in the finished bowl. She left it to me, since she only had a short visit. A yellow sun with pink petals around it. Say what you want, but she knows what she wants.
It's true that I would have never chose the pink, but it really did turn out well. I left the outside of the bowl unglazed porcelain, which I hope she will like. It feels wonderful on the hands, and we agreed to leave the rough edge around the top. Very fun. And full of potential.
The bunny mug, that she requested be glazed turquoise, was another success, but honestly seems a bit contrived after the free-ness of the Sun Flower bowl. It's a great functional piece, and she chose the rabbit stamp, the dot (end of a dowel) between rabbits and the border. Note also, the "cotton tail" on the base of the handle. All Grand Daughter all the time. Yay.
I haven't been completely idle in the studio either. I've spent more time trying to create the Perfect Mug. It's just getting silly at this point. But this one is pretty sweet. Glazing continues to be my nemesis, but I like the way this one turned out. And I seem to have, at least temporarily, settled on a handle that seems right to me. Pulled handles are so Everyone-Does-Them, but this cut, smoothed and stacked handle feels very right to me; both in the process of making it, and in the hand after all is said and done. It is graceful, I think, and Grace is Beauty.
The hand-built mug to the left is not so much my favorite. I used the dark clay from New Mexico (Marilyn's Bod), glazed with a forest green transparent, with the lip dipped in Emeraude. The Emeraude is usually an iridescent green that drips enticingly down the body of the work, but in this case it flowed sort of a turquoise-y blue, and I'm not crazy about it. Lesson learned, I hope.
But not so much. I glazed this rhubarb impressed dish with the same combination. The dish is much better in person than in the image here. It's a full 12" long, and I finally got the stem right, attaching and pulling it so that looks like it belongs to the leaf, but isn't fragile. Love the form, not-so-much the glaze. Lesson learned? I hope so. I really need to take better notes, and then read them.
In closing, my first two cherry tomatoes will be harvested tomorrow. This is the beginning of great things for our household. The blueberries are getting into full swing now, the apples, peaches, and 2 plums (fruit, not trees) on their way to ripening, and the raspberries are flowering. Basil is crazy lush (first pesto already made), other herbs in full throat, and the kale is, perhaps unfortunately, unstoppable. Summer in Maine. Hard not to love.
