Pottery Update

I finished the pottery class I was taking before Christmas and somehow managed to finish a few pieces in time to use them for gifts. We learned about making sets, plates, and composite forms where you use two or more shaped put together to make a more complex form.

I didn't post these sooner because it would have spoiled the surprise of the lucky (or not so lucky) recipiants.

I sent this Acorn Vase to my mother. It is a composite form, and was meant to be a bottle. Everyone else made a bottle, but my neck turned out more bulbous and flat than tall and narrow so it became an acorn. When I told my pottery teacher I would send it to my mother he nodded and said, "It's the sort of thing a mother would like." Meaning it is ugly and badly done, but the Law of Motherhood states that mothers are required to like anything their children make. My Father (who is not bound by the Law of Motherhood) thinks I made it to put her ashes in when she pops off.

These mugs were an exercise in making 'sets' or a run of similar things that supposedly go together. That is harder than it sounds, and as you can see my set is composed of 4 very different mugs. In case you are wondering, I did not forget the second glaze colour on the mug front and left of the picture, but I did glaze it on a different day, and didn't take the time to stir the glaze properly before I dipped it.
We learned to make plates one class. Plates are actually pretty easy, and as I'm rather fond of this glaze I kept them for myself. The picture doesn't capture it well, the over glaze is mottled with gold and red flecks.
I'm currently in a teapot phase, which is the last thing we learned in our class before the break. Teapots are rather complex because they have a handle which must be comfortable to hold, a spout that pours without dripping or overflowing too fast, and a lid which much fit well. I think I'll be in this phase for a while.