blooming red

Just a few individual shots...

blooming yellow

blooming purple

blooming blue

blooming vases

I'm so very excited about these pieces. Combining felt and ceramic was something that has been on my mind ever since I took my first potterythrowing class last year. A lot of work and effort went into creating these 4 bud vases which were patiently sitting in my workroom until a few days ago. I was undecided on the style of flower to use, as well as the finishing look of the ceramic. Wildflower or not? To glaze or not to glaze? In this case, the vases are left unglazed. I loved the look of the matte ceramic, the lines and imperfections of porous clay visible. There are 4 vases to open up the series, and I promise, there will be more! My pottery wheel is beckoning and with the warm weather just around the bend, throwing vases in the garage sounds so inviting. Now, on to the photos!

future combination

Felt + Ceramic = My new project.


I'm so in love with combining different materials. On my worktable I've got some cork coasters staring me in the face waiting to be combined with cut felt. That's one. Next to those guys are 4 very precious unglazed bud vases which were wheel-thrown during my ceramic classes last year. I want to get started on those next. I'm so excited about my design for them. I wish the day had more hours. Hopefully I can set aside some time this Friday to at least start on one.

p.s; the picture shown here is one of the newly glazed pieces I picked up from class this week. Blue-green glazes are my weakness. Also shown are felted hearts, a custom order for friend and Etsy buyer.

11 lessons further

Monday past was my second last ceramics lesson. I had glazed three of my vessels the week before, and was quite excited to see how they had turned out. My favorite of the entire batch is a simple cylindrical vase, which might I add I threw entirely on my own. After it had dried to the leather-hard stage, lead letterpress type was used to imprint a small excerpt of text, namely two sentences from the song, 'Ahead by a Century' from The Tragically Hip. It's one of my favorites, and the one which introduced me to their music. The one that made me stop dead in my tracks, at the age of 15, in my old Canadian home, in a time when I listened to anything but that genre. The one which I still find so hauntingly beautiful, I still get goosebumps when I hear that guitar.

ceramics

I am in love with this medium. I knew all that bottled up energy from the days (years actually!) of dreaming about taking a pottery class would all come rushing out, but I had no idea! It did take a while to get the basic technique down, and I'm still learning, but it is great fun. So far, I've made a few bowls and vases, with much help from my teacher. I'm at the point where I want to experiment; carving with linocutters, printing with lead lettertype, cutting out holes to thread with felted cords.

Tonight I think I'll give the letterpress idea a try.