Throwing with material other than stonewear

In no particular order since blogger won’t let me re-order...

Having felt my throwing skills improve over recent months I wanted to expand into other materials and test these. And push the material I am used to working with - I have been testing stone wear and thinking about how to utilise the collapse of the clay to create new forms.

I made this piece and was very happy with the result I achieved but wasn’t sure if this would be reproducible, so using a smaller weight of clay I attempted to make a miniature - and it really worked. (Photos to come). I felt this collapse appears controlled (which it was) and intentional, compared to the previous bowls etc where I was aiming for collapse but this could be misconstrued (or perhaps I wasn’t sure what effect I was trying to achieve) as poor craftsmanship.

Feedback from my Assessment was trying to improve on my finesse. I will try to focus a little more on this, rather than production production production. And make clearer choices with form etc.

Water jug - my aim was to throw a tall cylinder with red earthenware and then make a simple jug form with slightly angled sides. I achieved this, however the piece is a little heavy. I had thought I had pulled all the clay but there must have been too think a base or clay left at the sides. But I really wanted to avoid turning this and to have worked on it enough to go straight to drying. I am hoping that it will feel lighter once dry.

This pot was a test to throw with a weight of clay, I wanted to use pushing out and collaring in in the same piece but also test out a wooden rib on the earthenware. I haven’t decided how to decorate this, if I will at all...

These mugs were a test to try and make a pair, using the same weight of clay. I have to say before turning they were more similar.

I have thrown with porcelain today. My first bowl came out really nicely, and I will turn this. The next bowl I wanted to feel how to manage the porcelain when it gets off centre, so intentionally did not fully centre the clay to begin with. This bowl is actually fairly attractive. The third bowl I wanted to test how thinly you can throw with the clay and the final bowl I wanted to push to the point of collapse. I felt that I needed to test these things so as to better understand the clay. The final bowl looks more like a taco than a bowl.

The porcelain is incredibly therapeutic to throw with, it feels like marshmallow and silk at the same time. It seems to act as a mass. A bit like when you wobble wet sand. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.