Day 33: Baking Dishes and Textured Slab Show and Tell

 Okay, here is proof that I threw pots in my home "studio" today.

Step 1: Finger rings in thick compressed patty, and TORCH IT!

Step 2: Cut off and let sit on hard backer so that the bottom of the patty is firmed up too, then sling it against the work surface until it stretches out into a nice and semi-even oval....this stretches out the texture, so be sure that the initial texture is more defined than you would otherwise like....it smooths out as it flattens and stretches.

Step 3: Throw the wall of the dish without a bottom.  I like thick rims on my baking dishes, and this one flairs out a bit so I probably won't add side handles at all.  This one doesn't have a flange so it won't get a lid either.  Maybe lidded dishes for another day.....each of these ones here were thrown with 2.5 lbs.
....and of course, TORCH IT!

Step 4: Score, slip, and attach like a good little potter, but oops, I didn't size very well.  In my "younger years" I would have just had a few of these made so all of these sides would be able to find matches, or I would have recycled it if I was tired of the series.....now I wouldn't think of either throwing more today or getting rid of it....soooo......be creative.....

Tada.....I cut the lip, folded the long piece inward to draw the eye to the swirl further in its own gentle way, and wrapped every thing up to dry slowly together.  Now, I know that food crusties are going to get stuck in that little area back there.....but today, my first day of throwing in my home in a long time, today, I don't think about food crusties!  I just think YAY!

Also, as promised, here are a couple of pics of my textured slab stash.

 These are pressed in...anything really: jeans, Celtic rope weaves, tree bark, hens and chicks (the plants not the birds), textured balls of natural seed pods (I bought them in a big bag at Michaels)....I shove just about anything interesting into a slab of clay.

These are carved slabs.  I created the textures myself using carving tools, ribs, or even other bisque stamps I had made.  Most of these slabs are thicker and have patterns on both sides.  I love TEXTURE!  I have thought a lot about what texture is really about for me, and I think it is really a reflection of how super sensitively I live life.  I don't mean sensitive sense of touch really, but sensitive emotional connections.  I tend to live my life with nerves exposed.  This has always been the case especially as a band director and musician, but still so as just a person.  So art does reflect life, even before I realized that that is what I was about.

 Now that I have mentioned my "home studio" a couple of times here, I think it is time for true confessions.  Here are some photos of all of my work spaces in their glorious reality.

 The sewing area is on the left there, and the jewelery is on the right.  For now, I have been on hold with the jewelery for no particular reason, but it the space is just holding my stuff that I haven't put away in its proper place.  There is always a pile of that on some surface if not all surfaces in this room.

Yes, it is also the laundry room, but as those of you gasp thinking about clay dust in the entire family's clothes, I do have a filter down there, and am a near neat freak with the clay clean up!  My hubby built me the work table and my kick wheel sits on the end.  The racks on the wall are all of the shelving I have for works in progress, but I have lots of shelving for finished wares in the garage!

This is part of a family room in the basement level of our split-level home.  The desk area is a new addition to what was previously just for kids stuff, and now I house most of my paper crafting stuff there.  The kids can craft with me, and I don't feel that it has to be all of the dining room table for lengths of time in a row.  Paper crafts are a spreading craft....and it is really nice to have a space dedicated just to it and its special little tools=)

Of course though, the absolute best thing I did today was take a little nap today with my gorgeous godson on my tummy.  I LOVE SNIFFING BABIES!

Yes, God, today was a good day.  Thank you, Sir, may I have another?