The schedule for the week... unfortunately glazing took up more time than anticipated and cut into the iron time, which eliminated the time for the hand grenade! i was super bummed... though i would have liked the see a transformer teapot just as much!
Christa and Josh! They were great together... totally groovin' with texture. That was the unofficial theme for the week. Christa likes corrugated things, and Josh does a lot of fluting/faceting on his pots.
Christa trying out a corrugated spout on her elbow pitcher. She said she had never thought about a corrugated spout until that week... She described her spout as a pringle, and someone said, "What about a ruffle?" Weird how things can be sparked.
Throwing the base to the iron teapot. She had an interesting method for getting the clay out wide in order to pull up... it's hard to describe, but still sticks in my head.
Josh demoed how he makes platters/trays... it involves a lot of cutting and beveling. And Christa wanted in on the action!
All week Christa kept saying how she loves (hates) seeing pictures on the internet of all the weird faces that she makes while she demos, so i tried to capture the moments when she was laughing/smiling instead... Clearly it wasn't too hard! Someone requested to see the 4 footed square cup, so she took a break from the iron to demo that.
And then back to assembling the iron. Notice the fantastic creamer and sugar set in the foreground.
Hans Weissflog was teaching a woodturning workshop during the week, and taught Christa how to turn wood! Soooo cool! He's an internationally known turner... talk about learning from a master. She made a top, with corrugation... who would have thought?
I have to tell you that I tend to get a bit annoyed at the retired hobby clay women who frequent workshops and pottery classes. However, these ladies are definitely the exception! Lovely, lovely ladies who have been to all the major art and craft centers for workshops. They even came to the mexican restaurant for margaritas with us young gals the last day of class!
The story behind the unicorn shirt... If you've never been to Gatlinburg, it's basically the Ocean City, MD boardwalk mixed with a little bit of Niagara Falls, Canadian side and the county fair. TONS of candy shops, henna tattoos, airbrushed t-shirts, and wax museums. Christa and Josh had been talking all week about getting matching airbrushed t-shirts... the corniest they could get. They decided on a unicorn design with the phrase "Corny as a Unihorn" on it! Kathryn (on the right) and I thought it would be hilarious to get t-shirts too... with the exact same unicorn on it! They say Assad and Copus 2010... Kirk found out and replied, "Finally an appropriate ceramic oriented t-shirt."It was a fantastic week that should have been about 3 weeks longer! Josh and Christa were AWESOME together (and separately), and were extremely gracious and helpful in reviewing my portfolio. If you ever get the chance to work with either, take it without a second thought. Next post may be about Ceramics Blossom, which ends in 2 days! My summer classes/workshops are coming to an end and it's not even July yet!
Love, from Kent, OH.
