Tuesday, December 21, 2010

First Pottery Pieces

So I recently started doing pottery on a weekly basis. It's super fun, except for the part where I have to keep my nails short :(

The title is technically a lie. My -first- pottery pieces were a coiled cereal bowl, which sadly cracked in the kiln and consequently can now only serve as a peanut bowl that looks like it was made a five year old. And then of course, the famous, Ugliest Sugar Bowl IN THE WORLD. It's a pinch pot... but yes, not exactly something I want to show off.

Right, so moving on.

The teacup below was my first thrown object, the saucer my second. As you can see from the size of the saucer, I got a very quick lesson in "clay shrinks". They're made from terracotta earthenware, the inside is glazed in black and outside in... something shiny.

Unfortunately the kiln apparently hates me and decided to drop some fluffy insulation stuff on my cup while it glazing, causing the bubbling etc you can see on the photos.

Teacup:


Saucer:


Saucer Bottom:


And then this is my latest attempt.

Contrary to what you may believe, these are a set. See? They're the same colour. And yes, I did weigh the clay before I made them. Somehow I still managed to make three completely dissimilar mugs. Oh well.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

To Do List

I've currently got so many projects up in the air that I'm not actually getting to any of them. So I figure I'd put them here where I can't lose the list.

So as it stands as of today:

  1. Complete the apron and chef hat (to be done before Christmas)

    Shhh, secret.


  2. Complete all my Christmas stockings (to be done before Christmas)

    They're not really "stockings" per se. I'd originally planned to buy lots of little presents, but that ended up too expensive and if you don't have lots of little presents in the stocking then the "toe" part becomes a bit awkward. Thus they're more like pseudo stocking bags.



  3. Finish knitting the Branching Out Scarf by Susan Pierce Lawrence for a Craftster Challenge (to be done before 7th of Jan, haha)

    Well this is turning out to be a frustrating project. It's not that the lacing is hard, it's just that if you drop a stitch, you're pretty much screwed and have to start over.


  4. Finish the last cupcake pincushion.

    I'm still trying to figure out a way to get the "cup" right.


  5. Complete my apron, to replace the one ruined by the maid.

    She washed my white hand made apron with my jeans :(


  6. Complete my Lickle Bear cross-stitch. (Almost done!)

    I really shouldn't admit outloud that this isn't finished yet.



  7. Make a knitting bag.

    I've bought the ingredients for this, but I'm planning on using my cross-stitch to make the bag, so I need to finish that first.


  8. Make a new duvet cover and pillow covers and redecorate my bedroom.

    A bit tired of my room, thought about redoing it in white and lime with black embroidered cat designs on it. Also swirls... it'll look more awesome than it sounds, promise.


  9. Make inchies!

    I just saw them on Craftster they look like so much fun!


  10. Finish knitting the sweater.

    Possibly three years from now.


  11. Learn to make soap!

    On condition I find the ingredients to do this with.