A partnership is born

Earlier this year I was visiting my friend, Maureen, and saw some of the designs she draws onto little boxes she calls her "Tattoo Boxes".  They are intricate, each unique, and wonderful.  She designs around the outside of the boxes, along the lids, and inside with a 'signature' design, sometimes.  They are all different colors and shapes...and they take hours each for her to complete.

Aren't these great?    If you want one of your own, check out her site, The Tattoo Box.  My sister has actually ordered one from Maureen and loves hers, too.

This was specifically at a time when I was realizing my lack of creativity / confidence in using design on my pots.  I made an offhanded comment that she 'needed' to design my pots...and that started us toying with the idea of a pottery partnership. 

I asked her if she'd ever carved her designs (instead of drawing them), and she said, "no".  I showed up to her place with a couple hastily-thrown vessels spritzed with water and covered in plastic, a few carving tools and a smile.  The first piece was an experiment to see: a) if Maureen liked carving her designs, b) to see what kind of slips look nice in conjunction with her designs and c) to see if the collborative process might work.

Here's how it went:

The "pencil holder", as we called it, turned out pretty well. 

Test #2 was a big bowl. Maureen jumped right in!

Maureen jammin' while she works.

This biggie has been sitting in a bisque-fired state, awaiting glazing for quite some time.  It's hard for me to think up a glaze combo that will do justice to Maureen's hard work.  If you have any votes, comments, or suggestions, please do send them along.  I'm sure she'd love to hear that it has made it into the kiln a second time and will soon be finished.  :)

The early stuff...

When I first started taking pottery classes, I was amazed that my instructor could so easily convert a lump of mud into a functional shape.  (Sort of like this.)  He really made it seem as if it was no effort.  Then when I tried it, I realized that it required the use of all sorts of muscles that I hadn't previously had to 'work'!

Here are some pictures of the first few things I made.  I cannot tell you the joy of pulling something out of the kiln and realizing that you can use it for...something.  I have the most rudimentary 'pencil holder' sitting on my desk at work, and I couldn't love it more.

This bowl is quite small.  It holds about 4 ounces.  I was experimenting with the colors of glazes here...dropping them onto the piece and making designs.  It's a very 'natural' look, but my look is very natural.  This worked well for me.  I have had the intention to make along this vein, but haven't yet.

This was the first piece that I glazed.  those two colors, the white and red, were produced from the same chemical compounds.  The glaze I used, shino, produces different colors depending on the thickness with which it's applied to a pot.  A very thin coating produces the orange-red color, and a thick coat produces the white.  The glaze experiment was a success.  My instructor's feedback on the form involved a comment something like, 'Wow.  That's quite a man-handled handle."  Oh, Howard.