Messy bowls

Finally made it into the studio last night for a bit. It was good to be back to a regular sort of schedule with time for the studio, albeit on a Tuesday night. It was wonderful to have some company this weekend, though, and certainly didn't miss my studio time too much. The weekend was rather filled with non-pottery endeavors, including a Rockies game at Coors Field, a hike in the mountains (we found a bear!), working in the garden, and plenty of sitting around and playing games. Thanks, family, for a great visit!

Well, I had a few bowls that were yet in need of some trimming, so that's what I did last night. I had a handful of mid-sized bowls to trim and slip, plus one of the large decorated bowls, so that occupied plenty of my time.

Here's a shot of my wheel halfway through the trimming of said bowls. It's a messy business, with strips of clay flying hither and thither in utter disarray. Trimming is certainly not the hardest mess to clean up, but it's more impressive than most throwing messes.

I've tried various methods to minimize the mess of trimming, or at least speed up the clean-up process, but the best thing seems to be just letting the clay fly where it will. I've tried using splash pans (the yellow trays that fit around the wheel) to catch the trimmings, but not all the trimmings stay in the pans, so I still end up sweeping an entire swath of floor. I also have tried rigging up a catch-all net of towels and plastic, but all the trimmings just ended up on the floor anyway. So, in the end, it seems that letting the clay fall where it will and sweeping it all up at the end seems to be the most efficient option.

Unless I'm trimming and throwing on the same day and the trimmings get waterlogged. That's a whole new problem altogether.

So, here's the four mid-sized bowls trimmed, slipped, banded, and ready for carving. Apparently I'm being very secretive about the insides of the other large bowls I've been working on. Mostly I don't remember to take pictures of them. Anyhow, two of these bowls came home with me to be trimmed whilst watching a pleasant episode of Bones.

Pleasant may be debatable, especially if you've ever sat through the opening of an episode. Forensic anthropology is not a clean job. We'll leave it at that.

Looks like the Guild cranked a good-sized bisque firing through this weekend as well, as I had plenty of pots waiting to be glazed when I got in last night. It may not happen this week, but hopefully soon.

That's all for now. If you're in the area, be sure to stop by the Guild's booth at New West Fest this weekend.