Bigger Finished Things

I've told you all about the "grand platter fiasco".  I did actually finish some other things since March, too, though.  Since I know you've all been waiting with thick anticipation for some finished results:  here you go.
 

Le faux Creuset complet


Until this piece, I had either glazed everything a similar color inside or out, or had progressively added darker and darker glazes on sequential applications such that I didn't have to work hard to keep different colors 'crisp'.  (It's sort of like painting your walls.  If you always choose a darker color than is already there, you don't need as many 'primer' coats to get good coverage.)

Bright white within bright, Crayola(R) green is a bit trickier, however.  This pot took me longer to glaze than it took me to throw.  That was quite a milestone.  It's starting to legitimize me as something more than just a form-thrower.  When I decided to use them I didn't really think I'd enjoy the colors, but the effect on the finished piece meets my approval.  Dude, I made that.


Back in 2009 I visited my paternal grandmother, Nan, and showed her some pics of my pottery-to-date.  At the time I was just throwing...whatever the clay turned into.  I noticed that in her small apartment she was using a large, clear, plastic cylinder 'bucket' to hold her cooking spoons, ladels, spatulas, etc.  After I asked Nan what she'd like me to make and I subsequently gave up after minutes of "I'd love anything you'd make for me," I decided that making a ceramic spoonholder would be a great challenge for me.  It would force me to "go big" (more clay on a wheel requires more arm strength to control), I could glaze it blue to match her favorite color and her kitchen, and I knew she'd actually use it.

I photographed her existing spoonholder as a reference.  I drew a diagram and added it to my "list of projects" to tackle.  In February 2010 Mudflat (the studio where I work) had an all night clay event for the second year in a row.  I'd gone to it in 2009 and felt wildly productive, so I decided to do it again.  (I'm sure that it'll probably happen again in 2011.  I'm already making a list of what I will do that night.)  Surrounded by artisans far more talented and experienced than I, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to start the project.  I began with the "spoon" part...not the "holder" part.

Throwing the cylinder was the easy part.  I spent the better part of 3 hours tracing spoons I'd collected from all over the studio to applique to the exterior.  The spoon-crafting continued into the weeks ahead.  Pre-kiln, it looked like this. 

After a bisque-firing, glaze application (which, again, took weeks between 'dips', drying, and fixing) and a glaze firing, it looked like this.

It now lives happily on Nan's countertop, after a padded FedEx trip in a box big enough to fit a large, cathode-ray-tube television.  I haven't seen it "in person" yet since, but I imagine that it must look on her counter much like it did on mine before I packed it up to go.

My favorite part is that it bears my name and the date on the bottom.  From one Granberg to another, with more love and pride sent than with anything else I've made.  What is it about making things for grandma that you never seem to outgrow?