My aim of the day was to practice the process of mug making and make the actual mug slightly thinner. I really like my first ones but I want to try and make them more delicate. Dom showed me how to make the clay evenly thinner, you have to keep lifting the clay off the cloth as you are rolling it so it doesn't stick to the material. I found very tricky indeed! The clay is so soft that it is really hard to keep it perfectly rounded as lifting and moving it leaves finger marks and dents in the clay.
Covering the clay with cling film helps to keep the clay soft, it won't dry out so I can come back to it another day. I haven't yet added the bottoms to the mugs. Dom showed me a different approach to the process. He advised to attach the base of the mugs once the clay was at a leather hard state. He has made these mugs previously and advised that I make a template if I want to speed up the process and make all the mugs the same size. He showed me some of the mugs he has made, I really like them, they have a great handmade quality and the imperfections make them even more personal and unique.
We also talked about the variables in the glazes and oxides. Its hard to know exactly how the colours will turn out so my first few mugs will be a bit of experiment to see how the colours turn out and figure out quantities and preferences in the oxides and glazes.
Monday;
- Add mug handles and detail in the clay such as carving or textures.
- Make some more, try to get the hand of how to make them thinner.
- Sketch some illustration ideas to apply to the mugs.
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