#5 Blog Post

I don’t have any specific people who inspire me that are well know or famous potters.  I know that a lot of what Joe does I strive to get better and try similar pieces and techniques.  I also use the internet to look at pictures of others work and u tube different techniques.  Most of my sketching techniques on my pots are ones that Joe has taught me.  For him it comes natural for me I have to work on it.  I like to create item that I will use or that will be functional of others.  So I guess the only potters that have inspired me is Joe and Rachel who taught me to through.  

Blog Post #4: Technique

The past few weeks I have been working on throwing some taller pieces.  On a couple of pieces I tried using white slip, which I have never used before, to see what changes it makes when I glaze.  Unfortunately I lost my first tester piece in the bisk firing.  I have been carving into many of my pieces that I normally haven't in the past and I'm slowly working on an Egyptian themed one at home.  I am trying to leave a lot of different textures on my pieces when they are still on the wheel, I like how the glaze picks up those textures.  I have three more pieces to finish and by the end of next week I will start glazing all the pieces that have been fired.

Blog Post #3: Progress

My progress so far has been steady. I started out about where I was last winter and have progresses a little.  I made a set of four drinking glasses and four coffee mugs.  On all eight of the cups I made the bottoms a little too shallow so I was unable to carve a foot underneath so I smoothed out the bottoms and I actually like that a lot.   I also made a pitcher that is bigger than any other that I have made thus far.  The pitcher is heavier than what I would like so I will need to do some trimming but I like the shape.  I am working on a carving piece that I really like so I hope it turns out!

I would like to be able to work faster or more efficiently than I do now.  Sometimes I catch myself working on a piece for too long and it looks the same as it did before.  So I am going to work on being more productive with my time and not worry so much about things being perfect.  After all they are being hand built.

Blog Post #2: Inspiration

My inspirations for functional pottery come from many different outlets in my life including pictures, experiences and how functional something is. Because of my abilities of throwing or carving I’m limited to what I can create.  I try to base what I make after thing that I have seen or used that is convent and functional.  I like to make things that other people could use in everyday life whether it is a bowl, vase or a coffee mug.  I try and carve scenery shots on the outside of some pieces and that was originally inspired by my husband who also does this.  He usually carves a fishing scene (because he is a commercial fisherman) into his work but I am more interested in cool places that we have been and seen.  The scene that I have done the most is the Great Pyramids of Gaza but I would like to try some other one this quarter. 

Blog Post #1

My name is Katelin Rosenkranz and I am taking independent clay at YVCC.  One of my goals this quarter is to make functional plates.  I like to make uniform sets or pairs of functional pieces but I have yet to make plates.  This was my goal at the end of last winter quarter and I just ran out of time.  By the end of the quarter I would like to make four small and large matching plates with four bowls and 4 mugs that also match.   I’m not sure if I’m going to use different glazing or carving techniques to make this a matching set but I know that I want them not only to look the same off the wheel and be able to stack nicely but also visually look the same.  I would like to do some glaze test pieces before I glaze the set so I can see exactly what I want them to turn out to be like.