What does a person do living in a motor home for seven months? Has it been that long? How time flies and yet how it drags on without clay. We look for a new home, travel, take photos, sight see, but still there's time left over. Time in the evenings, mornings, or afternoons when it's raining or when one more movie just doesn't get it. There's lots of thinking time. I've read a ton of novels, more in the last few months than the last few years. But my brain and my fingers are still itching to make something in clay. I've spent a lot of time dreaming about pottery.
Yesterday we applied for library cards so we can borrow books from the library instead of buying from the used book store to save money. Since I can read a book a night, that ends up being a lot of books over time. I found a number of novels at the library. But before leaving I decided to check out the art section to see if there were any pottery books. Of course I found a couple of books I haven't read before. The first was
Pottery Decoration by Thomas Shafer.
Due to their age some books are dated but this book has inspiration to offer for the here and now. There are even some beautiful color pottery photos in the book. The sprigged jug in the first photo is from the book. The sprigs have so much detail; the piece is truly amazing. The slip trail tool illustrations above are also from the book. There's lots descriptions and examples on ways to decorate pottery like carving, texturing, sprigs and so forth.
The other book I found is
The Mud-Pie Dilemma, A Master Potter's Struggle to Make Art and Ends Meet by John Nance. This book is the original version; I understand there's an update. I'm sure the original will have some good tips for me. Since it's a rainy day I'm glad we stopped at the library yesterday for a few books to keep us occupied over the weekend. Hope your holiday preparations aren't wearing you down on the shortest day of the year. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.
