August 18, Day 5

I have this "thing" about a joint on my pieces that are not perfectly smooth.  I have a very hard time when something is textured while first rolling it out that leaves the seam noticeable when made into a cylinder.  My project today was a way of getting myself to let go a little and not to focus too much on what I see as an imperfection.

I was out late tonight and wanted to make a simple and quick project and had planned on making a coffee mug.  Well as we all know, I don't always get things right and my piece changes in concept.  I have a real problem looking at something flat and "seeing" how it will look when round.  I rolled out a piece of clay and textured it.  When I went to put it on the bottom I had made previously, I discovered it simply was too small.  So instead of a coffee mug, I decided to make a cute little drinking cup.

Like I said, I am working on my compulsion to have a perfect seam.  I decided to split the difference, so to speak, and just textured the middle.  That way, I can still smooth out part of the seam while leaving the remainder less than perfect.

Another thing I discovered, I really need to get some better lights in my craft room.  Until I saw the picture, I didn't even notice that some of the texture got impressed in the top portion that was to be flat....I am really wanting to go smooth this out, but will leave it alone :)  I can always do something about it before I fire the cup if it drives me too crazy.

This was a complete disappointment.  I hate the way the glaze turned out....funny thing is though, the camera actually makes it look pretty good.  Not sure what happened, the glaze was extremely thick and I had to add quite a bit of water to make it a brushable consistency, might of been the problem.  Too bad I used it on 2 pieces which ruined them.  Sometime I am going to experiment with putting another glaze on top to see what happens.

I am going to start writing notes to myself in order to keep records of what I am doing, so this is what you will see as a foot note in this and future posts...

Clay used:  M-11
Beginning weight:  1 pound 2 ounces
Ending weight: 9.1 ounces
Technique:  Slab, texture, masking
Glaze used: Dark Jungle