In keeping with my summer so far, my progress this week has been slow and I have allowed myself to be distracted by various obligations and curiosities. I finished a couple pieces late last week and on the weekend. Unfortunately they aren't pieces that have many bike parts, so maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time with them.
I also played around this week on the wheel. Monday I threw a bunch of pieces, both parts for sculpture (that I hope to start today after I do some unrelated and nagging paperwork) and for some functional pieces I wanted to try. I ordered some new clay at the start of the summer but hadn't yet gotten around to testing for maturity at cone 04. I made a couple plates, a berry bowl and a set of mugs with false bottoms that rattle or open to reveal a separate open section. I saw a similar open-bottomed mug online--or maybe a student shared it with me--that was designed to hold a cookie in the open section below the tea vessel. I'm not sure the result is ergonomic, but I wanted to try it.
I also spent an inordinate amount of time working on a multi-layer vessel which is intended to function as a cosmetics holder in my bathroom. I feel silly for the amount of design that went into the project (which looks like a scented wax burner) but if it works, several hours of studio work will be soon outweighed by the pleasures of eschewing a daily rain of broken powder and projectile mascara when I open the medicine cabinet.
I also under-glazed too much this week. The glazing process can expand or shrink to fit the time allotted. I should really just underglaze 30 minutes a day during the year, so I can stop wasting hours on this mindless task during my summer studio time. I might have to lock up the glazes, though, because the alluring idea of getting some glazing done always tricks me into spending more time than I initially planned; I sit down for 20 minutes between tasks and suddenly its two hours later and all I've done is laundry and under-glazing.
Before it got too hot, I took several nice walks with my daughter to look at flowers (and other detritus). I keep seeing forms that make me want to work in the studio (but I somehow keep lacking the motivation to actually get them done).
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