Fall Flashing

Anyone else feel like, the older you get, time goes by faster and faster? It’s been asked of me a thousand and one times – “Gosh, where did the day/week/month/year go?” But that whole concept, that seemed to be so abstract when I was a kid, is really starting to make itself less fictional and a heck of a lot more evident in my life these days… and I’m not even twenty! I mean our fall break was a flash in the pan, and I hardly feel adequately rested and subsequently refreshed as going on “break” implies in the academic community. So as soon as I set foot on campus, I knew I needed to make a little change to hit the ground running and get a little momentum going!

I marched to the studio, armed with my new, full-sized, adult apron to replace my child-sized one that barely covered my belly button, and I got to scrubbing! A clean workspace is a happy workspace, right? Moreover, I knew that I was going to be changing my clay body from an iron rich stoneware to a B-mix, a more white clay. I wouldn’t want any cross contamination of iron turning my white clay muddy. B-mix is a great clay body to fire in a wood kiln because it has a tendency to flash, or change color in certain places due to direct exposure to more intense heat; and fortunately enough, we as a class have been invited to participate in a wood firing at the end of October! If I was going to reap the benefits, I knew I desperately needed to pump out pieces if they were to be bisqued in time. So I dedicated my morning to throwing, so that by the time the following day rolled around, I could make the necessary alterations like adding a handle and a spout.

I also recently placed a mirror in front of me while I throw, not only so I could look at how muddy and sweaty and gorgeous I look while I work, but also to see the profile of the piece I’m working on more easily. I don’t often like to bend over sideways and crane my neck to see the curvature of the pot, so it seemed like it would be the perfect fix! I do quite like it actually after using it for a few weeks, and would highly recommend it (for the vain and) for those who may want to give their forms and technique a more critical look! Plus it’s also great for silly photos. Here’s what I threw, and hopefully there’ll be a lot more where that came from.

P.S. If you’re curious like I was about the whole time-flying-by-as-we-age thing, check out this short article at the Huffington Post! Cool, huh?