New Projects

My professor told me I should think about forms the way I do the forms of beads and I thought that was a terrific idea. With that thought in mind I sat down and threw some mugs last night, thinking about beads and forms, kinda abstractly but not ... I don't know how to describe it actually.

I picked out the roundest today and decided to put on a lid, legs, and a handle (of course) and implement some ideas I have had in the back of my head for a while. What cinched it about the lid was I saw a casserole dish demoed on a ceramics arts daily video (sorry I can't provide the link) and my professor was demonstrating to the ceramic 1 students on making a proper flange for a lid and this is something I've had trouble with .... so even though I am a ceramics 2 student, I walked over and listened again because I obviously missed something the last time.


These series of photos are me doing a proper lid. PAY ATTENTION THERE WILL BE A QUIZ AT THE END!


First step ... lid. I liked the video because the lady demo-ing put a piece of plastic between the lid and the dish, then she smoothed the inside and made a dome. The next thing I did was take a needle tool and mark the underside to cut this to the right size (and I smoothed the edges of course).


The flange has always been the most difficult part for me. I never make them large enough to make an ounce worth of difference. But the professor said to make a coil and then roll it out for the depth. Then, on the INSIDE of the dish, take the measurement, score and slip the coil together. There. The flange is the right diameter and wide enough to make a difference.

Trying to think of the mug as a bead, I used a technique that I often use when sprigging forms onto beads to work the flange into place. It worked! Yay!


Legs are beads simply incorporated onto the bottom.


And here they are finished.



And last of all a handle. This process, being that it is the first time and I was being very ultra careful, took an hour and a half. Think about that next time when drinking a cup of coffee.


And in that same vein, here is your quiz!

Quiz: What brand of coffee do I drink based on these photos.