First of all, here are three of the pears I made a couple weeks ago... yes, one's blue.
Anyway, so I've been thinking that these might be fun to try and sell at the spring sale. They're not a lot of work, as they're one of those that you need to work in stages to allow the clay to stiffen. So today I made 5 more; some a bit bigger than the littlest one that's fired already.
Stage one, roughly put together, with stems attached, but in need of lots of tweaking.
Stage 2, the pears shape has been refined, and the surface has been gone over once with a loop tool, carving away and smoothing. Next step, using a sure-form tool (think cheese grater) to get rid of some of the weight and thickness of the clay wall, and also smoothing at the same time. Then I'll use a 'green scrubby thing' (like the back of a scotch-brite sponge) to really smooth and finish before firing.
My other project I'm working on is more hand built forms, that will hopefully together make a cool sculpture. Because I'm in the idea of dealing with creatures that make up larger conglomerations/communities I thought that this would be fun. But of course I'm abstracting the forms, because it makes it more fun. Really. Fun.
Stage 1: pinched forms, joined and shaped; stiffening.
Stage 2: forms have been carved, and smoothed with damp sponge and a rubber rib.
When they are leather hard, I will see if I need to reshape any or get rid of some of the weight with the sure-form. Right now I really like the forms.
And for Mom, my progress on the quilt.
I'm very happy with the colors so far and am having fun.
So that's it for now. Hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently with pictures, I just keep forgetting my camera!
3 comments:
Well, it's so good to hear from you again! I like the things you are doing -- pears are interesting! I might need a few decorative somethings for my new office, so if you get the creative need for something "not useful", feel free! Have you heard from any schools yet?
I love the pears --and the "pinched shapes" remind me a bit of figs. Are these shapes hollow? or solid? If they are hollow, describe for me the process - two halves fused together? Or am I picturing it all wrong? Thanks for the picts and the updates.
I like the pears. You could do apples, too - I'm sure someone would like a few for an arrangement/centerpiece type thingy. I didn't know you were making a quilt. What is it for?
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