Inspiration

So, to make up for my lack of photos from class (it's a lame attempt, but it's an attempt nonetheless!), I have been gathering pictures of pottery that inspires me. Most of what I have found are things that I like for the shape. For example:

Love the wide bowl. Useful and practical!
This kind of thing is what I see when I think of traditional pottery. These types of things are mainly just decorative. These ones too:
These two vases are huge, though, and I'm pretty sure I'm not up to that yet. They're pretty much the same shape, too. There are others, more useful things that I really want to make too: Definitely gonna make a teapot and cups. I like the addition of the serving plate too.

I've already made one challice, but that was really only a mistake. These are made differently: the cups on top are thrown separately from the stems, and then joined to make the goblet.

Some of the other stuff I've found in my browsing stood out because of the glazing. I have a lot of glazing to do in class next week, so I've been keeping my eyes out for interesting techniques. I really like this bowl: and those of you who know me can probably figure out why--it's red and black (and I might be a bit obsessed with those colors...). Now, red is a hard color to get when glazing. When my mini pot came out, everyone was amazed that it actually turned out red, because it ususually doesn't happen that way. Red tends to come out black or brown. I'm going to give it another go, though. I think that the trick is to the glaze really well, and pour it on the piece fairly thick. Obviously I'm not going to be experimenting with any of the Christmas gifts...

I really like this set for shape, glaze and texture. So far I haven't put much texture onto my pieces, but I think I'll try it soon.