First fired pieces

Today I bought home the first five pieces of pottery I've thrown decorated and fired. Here are three of them. I call the first one Fauxhemia:

YAY!!!!!
My favourite is Fauxhemia
Well done Tony!

well done - you guys are so clever..I couldnt pot to save myself!!

And here's the other two from the first batch:

And these are the rest from the first term:


and:


The one in the centre had some remedial throwing by the tutor so has a more refined look.

The glazes have turned out just fine .... I like that soft green.
Keep up the good work Tony

Here's the first batch from this term:


My favourite:

My favourite:
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oooh lovely Tony

Progressing nicely Tony!
That's a lovely turquoise glaze .... Well Done

Bisque fired last term and glazed last week:


This one has glazing issues:


I've since learned you need to wash bisque fired pieces that have sat for a while before glazing and that celadon glaze should be applied thinly.

I'm impressed!!

The pot with the glazing issues is my overall favourite shape that you have created Tony

Thank you both. I'm on the beginning of a long journey.

These were bisque fired at the end of the last term last year:

I see control Tony ......

cool stuff. Do you have a tutor who shows you things and tells you about glazes etc...what temps are you firing to?

Thanks.

Last year I did three terms at http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/pinestreet/Default.html

I did "All levels" courses as these were the only daytime ones. One tutor for the first two terms and another for the last. The centre has a technician who does all the kiln loading, firing and unloading so I don't know what temps they've been fired to. There are shelves of glazes and samples, usually tiles, of fired glazes.

There's quite a bit of competition for tutor time and people are working over a range of projects at various skill and experience levels. There's a new tutor this year but because of my standard dithering I missed out on booking for the first term so will have to start off in the second term.

In the meantime I'll keep watching Simon Leach videos on YouTube.

Ive watched a bunch of those S Leach films....do you notice he moves his head just like Bernard did.

I don't recall seeing any moving images of Bernard Leach but strangely as I read your post I got a sense of having seen Simon and Bernard standing and moving in a very similar way.

Might not be real though.

I checked out some of the Bernard Leach clips on youtube - you're right Tim, Simon moves his head in a similar way - one of the clips I saw had a comment referring to the "Leach nod". It looks to me as if he is closely attending to, emulating or controlling the spin of the wheel and centrifugal forces

I wonder if David Leach was the same....I'm reading his bio at the moment but haven't come across it yet.

Those Leach kick wheels put you into a trance-like state.
They run so smoothly and it's just you and the wheel in the universe
I could never centre huge bits of clay on them ... many could though.

I read a description last night comparing using a Leach kick wheel to trying to paint watercolours while riding a unicycle! That sounds quite unlike the connection other people seem to get when throwing on a wheel they're powering themselves.

I did see a clip of David Leach throwing at the same time as he was talking to an interviewer. He was looking in one direction, keeping the wheel moving and continuing to work on the pot he was shaping. That's got to be multitasking. Looked to be a young Simon Leach in the background too.

I went to the studios where I did classes last year and picked up three bits that hadn't been fired by the end of the year. Here's one of them:

I collected Clatgo, my first two kickwheel thrown pieces and some pinchpots I made from clay from Lovett Bay years ago. The clay - a Hawkesbury shale I think - fired as terracotta. Clatgo is a blend of this clay and some from a building site down the road - resulting in a paler colour.

Wiannamatta series shales are the predominant brick earth in the Sydney region - in use from 1788 onwards.