Class two

Since a sushi-making class I had signed up for conflicted with the second week of pottery class, we went on a Tuesday night instead of Thursday. And so did a couple who missed the first class. While they play catch-up, I have been working on kurinuki at home.

This is a sushi boat, with a place for some wasabi.

I don't know what this is. A canoe? A Post-It Note pad holder? Any suggestions?

This little dish goes with the sushi boat, to hold soy sauce.

I also want to make a squarish container for chopsticks.

Kurinuki is time-consuming, a lot of carving with smaller and smaller tools, but it is also very meditative. The instructor suggested working on the outside shape first, then the inside. This surprised me... until I did the opposite with the soy sauce dish and found (almost too late) that the general shape of the piece was wonky.

So, where did my interest in Japanese food come from? My granddaughter is interesting in Japanese culture (mostly anime, manga, and Hello Kitty), which got me interested in the food. I've also been watching "Midnight Diner" on Netflix, which features a different dish each week, foods you would find in a home but not at your local Asakusa restaurant.

My only problem is I'm not very enamored with fish or seaweed, but maybe I'll get over that with more exposure. Plus, I'll want to use my sushi boat.

Class one

Well, *that* was different. In a good way.

Most beginning pottery classes go through making pinch pots, coil pots, and slab pots. In our first class at FW Clay, we started forming clay for rollers and stamps and prepping clay for kurinuki. I've tried kurinuki before, with some success. I'm eager to learn how to do better (especially not carve so deep there is a hole in the bottom.)

Yes, that pot is a bit wonky

The price of the class includes 25 pounds of clay and our choice of a book on hand-building. I chose Pinch Your Pot: The Art and Craft of Making Pinch Pots, by Jacqui Atkin. I have learned something new about pinching pots just by glancing through the early pages. My SO chose a different book, Hand Built: A Potter's Guide, by Melissa Weiss. We can share.

I'm stoked.

Enrolled

My SO and I enrolled in a six-week hand-building pottery class at FW Clay, which starts this week. The goal is to improve our technical skills. I'm excited... and nervous, probably because I plan to bring in some of my own work to fire. That judgment thing. Time to get over that.

Here are some test tiles I've worked up. The plain hearts are made with stoneware stained with mason stain, light olive and dark olive (12% for both, I think). The crosshatch ones are for testing some Mayco Stoneware sample glazes. The holes in all of them are for hanging. (Note to self: include something in these photos, like a quarter, for size comparison.)

In preparation for leaving the maker space and transferring my business to FW Clay, I've been collecting my stuff from the former, fired or not (mostly not). I'm hoping the turn around time at FW Clay will be better, especially now that they have started offering classes. Fingers crossed!

There's a new pottery place in town

Yesterday my SO and I went to the "grand opening" of Fort Wayne Clay. Nicole Capriglione is the proprieter. Since it wasn't busy (yet), she gave us a tour (during which I picked out over $90 worth of merchandise). I wish we could have stayed longer, as they were doing raku firing in the parking lot, but I had committed to being elsewhere. I am signing up for the hand-building class, though, to improve my technique.

The shop is still getting started - awaiting a big, beautiful new kiln - but I'm going to start taking my pieces there to fire. The maker space just doesn't get to my stuff in a timely manner. Besides the kilns not working well, I think production potters are filling them up with their mugs and sellable objects, leaving my measly two or three pieces alone on the shelf, neglected. Like my money doesn't matter.

So, what did I buy? Some tools...

...and a book.

I want this place to succeed, so my pottery dollars will be going here as much as possible. Nicole is *so* excited and personable and I think I will learn a lot from her and her assistants.