Clay in My Fingernails

I haven't had the time to throw or build anything with clay in quite some time. In fact, the last thing I threw is still a piece of green-ware (that means I heven't fired it yet [that means I haven't put it in a kiln yet]) sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I threw it about three months ago.

But recently I've been inspired to put my foot to the pedal and my hands to the wheel and make things again.

I visited a friend at her new house recently. We talked about how having a place of your own is so nice because you can completely express yourself in decorating it and making it your little sanctum. She pointed out a collection of carved wooden orbs that she picked up back home at a 'Christmas Loft.' But she didn't have a bowl in which to corral them from rolling off the coffee table. That's when I got inspired.

So lately I've been fashioning 25 to 30 inch diameter platters that I'm planning on decorating with various slip, scraffito, subtractive, and glazing techiniques. I'm really excited about them because I can explore tondo compositions and play with ethnic motifs from Hungary and Turkey (which both have their own unique approach to folk art and decoration when it comes to pottery and even the platter specifically). I'm also experementing with different ways of mounting them on walls; I've a bit more research to do in that area, platters made of fifteen to twenty pounds of clay don't easily stick to walls.

The platter for the afore mentioned new home will probably be a grooved 26 inch-er glazed in tenmuku (a rich, shiny, crystaline black that turns russet on sharp corners and grooves) with a red iron oxide underglazing to give the black a little extra kick.

I'll let you all know when I show them publicly (which being interpreted means: when I start selling them)