clay: field school for throwing and handbuilding

I was perusing the store website of a t-shirt I liked. I'm in the habit when buying anything online of looking at the  "About Us" or "Who We Are" of a company because I like to know the provenance of my objects even if they're manufactured in China or to know which American city the designers are based. Here's their blurb (with my additions in parentheses):

A field school is the place where everything you have learned meets the messy world.

Fieldschool is about all the things in life you just have to get out and do. Like riding a bike (or paddling a canoe or throwing on a wheel), there comes a time when you have to start pedaling (or paddling or throwing) and see what happens. The learning is in the doing.

I am definitely doing and still always learning ceramics, and I've no idea how long I’ll continue outrigger canoe paddling. I've been in the pottery fieldschool for 20 years, and it's only in the last year that I've been learning to throw. I would have to say that learning to paddle better and throw a pot well were my summer 2025 goals. But even though I've been throwing small bowls at both College of San Mateo and Clay Life, I've also been building a Sculpture Mix under-the-sea themed candelabra and Red Velvet butter dishes and Speckle Buff dinnerware for a niece. 

Over at CSM, where we are firing only Cone 10 clay bodies, I threw a couple of Black Mountain bowls. I rather love 'em because the outside of the bowl is very groggy and brutally rough while the interior is very smooth--I'll be glazing only the interior with whatever white glaze is in the community college studio. I spied a bottle of oil soap there, and so brought what plaster I had left and poured two plate molds.                 

And promptly made that past Tuesday, 3 Black Mountain plates with the 1 plate mold I had while making the other 2 plate molds. I can now have 3 plates at one time drying on their mold in the sun. Next up is my damp box.

  

And here's my sculpture candelabra.     

I like the simple form and its contrast with all the ornamentation. My friend, Jeff says to fire it anyway and let glaze fill in the gaps. And so I lifted and carefully placed that sculpture into kiln, and we’ll see you in two weeks:)

In the meantime, at Clay Life, I've just glazed another plate for the dinnerware set I'm gifting to my niece, Jelissa and her family. And here’s one of the butter boxes as I wait for another butter box and a couple bowls to land on the bisque shelf for glazing.             

On a red clay body, I'd like to try a yellow color. However, this bottle of Bright Yellow Gloss is almost empty.

I may stop at Clay People in Richmond to buy a white engobe and then maybe use the studio's Duncan Stroke and Coat, or find a yellow overglaze which means I need to make test tiles.