Legalized Pot...tery

Last summer, one of the artists' studios near my house offered a Living Social deal to come in and play with clay.  In a similar fashion to those sipping and stroking places, you were free to bring in drinks of your choice to enjoy while you created.  Now, I knew my friend Christine would most enjoy this type of activity but she was unfortunately 8.5 months pregnant at the time.  So I bought them and promised her it would be a fun activity for after she had gotten the hang of mamahood.

It took us six months, but we finally made time to go.

Unfortunately, the studio moved in late December from down the street to across town, but the new locale - and old mill - was great for the creative juices.  I'd love to go back in there once I get my new camera and just sort of poke around.  In the meantime, we had a lot of fun and I'd love to figure out a way to take a more comprehensive class with Shane!  It was just fun to play in clay.  Like adults with playdough.

This sign met us at the entry bay.  I just thought it was an interesting bit of propaganda.  There was also an old, rusty turnstile that kind of made the place look like jail.

I really couldn't imagine having to work there.

Anyway - first the pottery!

First you get your hunk of clay, and then you have to put it through a giant extruder to flatten it out into a slab.

 

 Here I go with my big slab o' clay.

 

 Christine took her turn extruding.

 I elected to make a platter, so first I had to trace the shape...

 

Then you cut it out of the slab - I know this picture is blurry, but I like that it makes me look like I'm working SUPERFAST.

 Neaten up the edges.

Then flip it over into the flatter form to get the depth you need by sponging it down with a moist sponge.

The couple at our table with us was hilarious - the guy said he thought he was going to have a "Ghost" moment with Shane the instructor because he was standing behind him and showing him how to do stamping on his piece. LOL

Christine elected to make a mug.

 

First you have to cut out your piece, and then you roll it on the form.

Then you gotta make the sides stick together so it doesn't leak.  Handy that, when making a mug.  We learned that you can stick clay to clay all day long, but when it's fired in the kiln, it'll fall right apart.  You have to "score and slip" it, which if you know anything about tile work is sort of the same as having to put the mastic on the back of the tile with that pointy scrapy thingy (these are all very technical terms, btw).  It's the only way to ensure it will stick after firing.

So here is Christine scoring her mug edges.

And here she is putting on the finishing touches.  It has a badass curlicue handle and some funky The Max inspired geometric shapes on the front.  It will also hold approximately two liters of whatever you're drinking.

And here is my platter.  It will be fired in a gold glaze, and hopefully all my scoring and slipping will hold.  As hard as I try, I just can't help loving clean lines and straight edges.  What can I say?  It's just what I like.

We have to wait a month (agh!) to get our finished pieces back, but that will be a fun late March surprise, when it's just long enough after my birthday and Christmas to need a little something that feels like a present to myself!

After the class, our instructor offered to take us on a tour of the mill and let us in on the renovation plans.  I snapped a couple of pictures, but didn't know the camera settings had changed to be black and white.  I really wanted to catch the gross institutional green it was!

 

We went up a creepy staircase.

 

I never understood the point of painting over windows...doesn't that make it easier for the hobos to hide??

 Seems fitting.

Anyway - they plan to open a ton more studios in there, and have lots of classes going on, such as blacksmithing and glassblowing.  They even want to do a blues festival on the acres of land out beside the mill.

All very cool stuff.

I'm looking forward to all the future art!!