Studio Saturday

Just two days at the studio this week, and short days at that. But the stitching of the pots at home continues.

On Monday these four emerged from their plastic bubbles -

 Two, the darker ones, had been covered by an overturned plastic bottle; the others by bubble wrap, which doesn't do as effective a job in slowing down the drying. The tall one had been dipped a second time, on account of having lots of little cracks - this time it has fewer, but larger, cracks. An opportunity to use the repair medium (paper clay with a little gum arabic).

This small one, made of silk organza with lots of textural stitching, also has a little metallic thread.

 It's a bit frustrating to have to wait for the next stoneware firing in order to see what kind of fabric, stitching, etc to continue with. Meanwhile my "investigations" are somewhat random...

These four were dipped on Monday - a silk tube with thickish metallic thread; gathered synthetic organza, steamed to hold its shape, with some vertical lines of thin metallic thread; sinamay with linen thread and a little metallic; synthetic organza in a bias tube, with loops of heavy linen thread -

 Supported, and about to be covered with bubble wrap -

 Two days later ... once again, those under the "cloches" are still quite wet; I tried simply adding more slip to the areas that needed repair, eg filling in the loops -

 Just two for dipping, but large ones -

 The twist on the red linen thread makes the loops stand away from the fabric - this could make them fragile once they are fired. Next time I'll put some padding under the loops, or pull them tighter.

 All four are under cloches, waiting till Monday for further rescue -

 These are more or less ok, just need the bases trimming -

They join the growing group on the window sill -

 But some need drastic repair - are they getting too dry?? -

 That window sill, from outside....

 ... and inside ....