Friday, December 3, 2010

Making Goblets


Today was productive one in the studio. I made two handbuilt vases, one slab tray, a wall sculpture, pendants, and ornaments. After dinner I decided to make a set of goblets. Perhaps you recall the two I made while I was traveling in my RV? They're pictured in the first photo on the right column. They turned out so nice I thought I'd make another set, this time four instead of two.


I start out rolling a slab and cutting out circles in various sizes for the stems. I cut the middle out of the circles and then stack them up in descending order. Then I go back and score and slip each circle to the other. I set the stems aside to stiffen up.


Next I take a small block of clay and pinch it into the drinking portion of the goblet. After I pinched the first one I thought I needed the stem to be taller so I rolled out another slab and cut two more circles, one small one and a large one. I added these and the shape looked more in proportion.


When I attached the drinking portion to the stem I thought the weight needed some reinforcement so I made a coil and attached that under the bottom of the form.


By this time I was running out of steam. But I looked at the other three stems and knew I had to finish them.


Pinch, pinch, pinching away I went making the drinking portions of the goblets. Finally I was finished.


Each one got a little bigger as I went along. Hopefully these turn out as nice as the ones I made in the RV.

7 comments:

  1. You must have an amazing grip with all the pinching you do.
    Lookin good.

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  2. It looks like you'll be all set for New Years.

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  3. Nice, I don't think that I have the patience needed for pinching out goblets!

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  4. Hi Dennis, thanks, hope these turn out like the first ones.

    Hi Patti, thanks, I never thought of that, perhaps this is keeping my hands in good shape.

    Hi Lori, thanks, hopefully I can make a few more and sell some too. But I may modify the stem, this one takes way too long to make.

    Hi Craig, thanks, last night I was thinking the same thing, I was so tired of making them after the first one, but I already had the stems made so had to press on. I am going to think of less time consuming stem to make. Pinching is good though if you are working somewhere and only had a small space, that's what I did in the RV.

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  5. I like the look of these, lined up as a set. They have a cool style.

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  6. Hi Patricia, thanks, they're kind of art deco-ish arent' they?

    The middle is kind of thin for the weight of the bottom and top, I hope they do ok in the firing. I don't dare move them till they are completely dry, even then, kind of scary.

    I'm now thinking if I made the stem as part of the bowl and inserted it into one of the round circles that would be a stronger attachment. I like the look of the stacked circles though, but I could draw the line and get the same effect.

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