How the character of jugs emerges

 I am constantly amazed and enthralled by the way the nature and character of a jug emerges during its process of creation. I mean, take a look at these vessels that I have just thrown:

6 Jugs in the first phase of emerging

I don't know about you, but I think they are rather gawky. If they have a character it feels a bit dowdy almost?

And then:

• Trim the bases
• Cut the spout in a single plane
• Add a handle

And I am amazed by the characters that emerge!

The same 6 jugs a week later

These are the very same six vessels in the same order, a week later. I feel like each one has its own unique character. The ones that looked most gawky now have a nonchalance and pride in their difference, don't you think?

Of course there is still more to do in their baptism of fire that follows.....

Refuge from the pandemic

 Kim's oasis in Yeoville has been a wonderful quiet refuge from the ravages of the COVID pandemic. I am grateful to have the opportunity to come here for some quiet alone time, breathe freely and make beautiful things.

Maybe the quiet space helped a few larger bowls to emerge:

 

The joys of glazing

 I have been blessed with wonderful outcomes from glazing. Here are a couple of examples:

This glaze called Timoku does wonderful things in the kiln!

And Kim got me experimenting with random brushstrokes of wax to break up the glaze in unpredictable ways:

And then I am still inspired by Howard and Maureen Minnie's kind of swoosh from the 1980s. Here is one of my explorations:

Praying to the kiln gods

Trying out some new things, like white glaze over porcelain slip, and new colours for jugs - here they are waiting for their final firing, praying for good outcomes...

p.s. Kim says they are kiln goddesses

... and it looks as though I didn't manage to take photos of all of these even though the gods and goddesses of the kiln did smile upon them. Here's how the one on the left of the above group came out:

Bigger and more open vessels

Over the last few months I've been exploring some more open shapes in bigger vessels:

Lime green - for XC

Finished bowl

For C and V

Raku!

Thanks to the wonderful Kim Sacks for making it possible for my experiments in flower-petal wrapping of vessels to be Raku fired last week. Here are the results:

Work in Progress

23 August 2015 update: Yay! All the tall vases survived bisque firing! Now to glaze them - whew! Quite a lot to hold.

Earlier stages

One of my more recent vases - inspired by Kristina (in background) to try turning it after joining four cylinders together to make it.

Some of the tall vessels in various stages of drying before their first firing, accumulating to get enough to fill the kiln:

And my ugly ducklings - hopefully to turn into quirky jugs inspired by hornbills: