It was one of those pat myself on the back, really great days in the studio the other day. I was feeling good about the slip design on a big bowl I just made. In fact I liked the drifting dots so much, I started imagining other pieces with different colors of drifting dots, green, blue, yellow, or lavender, maybe different background colors too. Winter seems to be bringing out a color craving in me. I decided to make a tall vase with the same drifting dots, then I thought I'd make four small bowls to go with the large one. I was on a roll.
(Have a look at the river and granite boulders bowl I made over a year ago - almost the same design, hum, interesting.)
I was thinking the flowing lines with the drifting dots would work well on the flat surface of a rectangular vase, moving from one side to the other, cascading down the front. I rolled out my clay slabs and let them firm up a bit. Then I worked for over an hour putting the four pieces of the vase together, using part of a box and a two by four to help hold up the form. Scoring, slipping, patting, and coaxing the clay into a nice rectangular form.
I've been letting the clay slabs dictate the shape and size of my pieces, free wheeling it, so to speak. I guess I'm an impulsive potter, letting my impulses guide my making. I should make templates and get foam to help with my hand building. I keep saying this to myself, but then I start right in the next day and work the same way I usually do. Sometimes good things come from my impulsiveness though, that must be why I continue in this vein of making.
Next I smoothed out the seams and started to work on the slip decoration. First I painted the black slip and let it dry a bit. Then I used a tool to scribe the wavy vertical lines. Again I let the slip dry. Then I added the orange dots which are slip from a terra cotta clay. I noticed each time the slip was slightly dry, but still tacky. I was wishing I had my hair dryer long since donated. Everything was looking so good I took a few photos.
I was about to move the vase to the drying cabinet and all of a sudden I stopped dead in my tracks. I realized I had no way to move the vase to the drying cabinet without smearing the slip design. I couldn't think of a thing to do but cover the vase where it sat and let it firm up a bit.
So my question is, how do you move your slip decorated pieces after you decorate them? I usually move my pieces to drywall after I make them so the drywall won't get wet and sloppy with slip. Now that I have the vase drying I have to wait till I move it to make something else. So much for the smaller bowls I was going to make. Comments and advice is always welcome.
