Home stretch

I've actually been working a lot the last week, but I have yet to post about it. These last few weeks are where people start to see themselves fall apart and I'm doing just that. Not to say that I'm any less motivated with my hands on work, but I've been having less strive to post about it. So here's a catch up.

Within the last week I've thrown two successful mugs, trimmed them, and added handles. One of them is small and pretty simply, and I'm very happy with the handle because it's one of my first successful pulled handles. What I mean by pulled is that I wedged out a piece of clay and literally pulled the clay down with my fingers with some water until it was lengthened out and skinny enough for use. The bottom for the mug was going perfectly and I was getting really excited but then, just like with many previous mugs, I wanted to get BETTER, trim just a little MORE, and messed it up. I did manage to fix it but it doesn't look like I had imagined it in my head.

The second mug is much larger than any I've made, but also extremely heavy. Well, "extremely" relative to other ones. I trimmed a lot of excess off the bottom and carved in some patterns to try and get rid of the weight and I'd say I did a pretty good job but it's still not exactly light. I then added another pulled handle (this one not as nice- but still pretty good) and attached it to that one as well.

Today I came back to the studio for a quick drop by to put the mugs out onto the shelf because I had to let the handles dry on the mugs a bit under a bag or else they could have dried too quickly and cracked and then, WHOOPS no more handle.

I'm excited to see how my project is going to end up as the clock ticks down. It's becoming a lot more stressful with all my end of the years tests and projects but I know this isn't the time to start giving up. I do plan on blogging more, with more pictures, and research, and planning. All that has yet to come!