Update Finally!

Wow! It's only been like what? A year and a half or so since I posted last? I'm totally fired. I haven't been slacking though! I've made a lot of awesome pieces in the last year, and some of them have come through the glaze firing in tact. Of course, there are plenty that didn't, but that's the bane of being a potter, I suppose. You learn really quickly not to get attached to anything, because the firing process can ruin many a well-thrown item. Nonetheless, I have made some cool things. Most recently I've been working on this year's Christmas presents for my girls. Behold the jewelry keeper:

Surprisingly, this is the first one I ever threw and it turned out pretty decently! I tried twice again last night and failed, but was successful with the third try. By my calculations I need to make at least six of these, and now I have two. Hopefully my next four attempts will be successful as well.

In other news, I've also been making some pretty sweet one-piece salt and pepper shakers, which are a fun exploration of the closed form. They are pretty awesome two because you don't have to go about finding a plug or cork of any kind. I've got two sets waiting to go through the glaze right now: chickens and two dudes that look a lot like the minions from Despicable Me that I'll call Stu and Phil. Everyone in the studio loves them, and one of my classmates told me that I'd definitely be able to turn a profit on the shakers if I kept making them so freaking cute. I want to make minions too, but we don't have any yellow glaze. I'll probably end up having to use yellow slip and clear. More on that to come.

My neglect of the pottery blog has coincided a little bit with my neglect of the studio. For the last few months I have not been going in consistently because of other things going on (I found out about two months ago that I'll be having a baby in July, so there's that). I've resolved to get back into the habit, though, because I still love throwing as much as I ever did. I've got a lot of inspiration to go off of too, including (but not limited to) something like this: I figure this will be a lot like a giant version of the jewelry keeper, only flatter and with a higher middle post. I'll need to buy more clay before I attempt that, though, since my current batch is dedicated to shakers and jewelry keepers.