This week consisted of quite a lot of dipping, involving more experiments and feats of dering-do - such as the clip holding up a very saggy pot till it dries -
These were next for dipping, kitted out in their strings and hoops -
But when this lovely lacy one got into the clay......
.........it was a stretch too far! I washed it off and will take it home and do something "exciting" to help it keep a rounded, open shape (it was so narrow that the sides were sticking together) -
Typical mid-flow workstation situation - photography and note-taking as each individual pot is dealt with -
Two dipped and one ready for shape-shifting -
Two days later (Monday), some have dried and are ready for cleaning up -
and others are ready for dipping (and note-taking) -
Oops more sagging -
That's the lot, blasted with the hairdryer to experiment with the effect of drying time on the appearance of small cracks -
The fine cracking is currently my main focus. It could be due to all sorts of things - substrate fabric, type of texture, type of thread used for embellishment, consistency of dip, drying time/humidity....
This was the scene in the "home workshop" on Wednesday morning - three fabric pots were quickly put together on the sewing machine, and various crochet pots are waiting to be made "interesting" with a bit of metal thread -
Ready to dip -
Left to dry....
By Friday, more fabric pots were ready to take to the studio
... including one that had been gathered, steamed, and stitched with thin gold thread -
Before the dipping, a grand sort-out of dried-out pots, making notes, attaching photos, measuring, and giving them numbers for easy identification -
These were ready to dip - each has metallic thread used somehow -
And these are ready for the next firing -
They'll give information on the consistency of the slip and also about the receptiveness or retentiveness of various fabrics - another factor in how sturdy they'll be,
The small kiln has been ordered and will take about a month to be delivered.
in awe of you
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