Throwing Course

About a week before my assessment (mid February-ish), I took part in a two day throwing course at university. Having thrown mainly last year I was familiar with the basic principles, however had got a little rusty over the summer. This was quite a nice break from all the slip casting I had been doing and I learnt some nice techniques. I happily got back into the swing of it all and focused on throwing quite straight-sided cup/beaker forms.

In day two of the workshop I ventured into the unknown and tried throwing with porcelain. Its harder to throw with because its so plastic that it just slips around in your hands. However after many failed attempts and a few stress relieving cigarettes I started to get the hang of it and realised how nice it is to throw with. You can make the walls of the vessel you're making so much thinner than regular stoneware and because its so fine you can be left with a really nice surface quality. I again focused on making these beaker forms and before my assessment I found a soft satin turquoise glaze and glazed them, this is what I ended up with...

Beautiful, no? I got them out of the kiln and loved them, they made my day! My next intentions are to cast from these and my other thrown beaker forms. I want to create hundreds of the same, playing with this idea of the hand-thrown against the identical slip-cast. And yes... I fully intend to cast them as finely as physically possible in porcelain casting slip, giving them an almost 'throw-away' quality. I think these will be my main work in our exhibition.