Anne and Spencer's Excellent Adventure: Anne's Pottery

First day of throwing!!

One of the things I was worried about in coming to Mumbai without a job was that I'd be bored while Spencer was at work. The opposite has happened! I have been busy in such a great way, throwing pottery almost every day and working with the middle school art classes on occasion.

Here are some of my pottery creations - all of which I am (in a zen-like way) creating and then recycling without firing or glazing any of them. Instead, I reuse the clay for new creations. I put so much energy into making each item that sometimes squishing wet pots or crushing dry ones into a powder is hard to do. At the same time it's sort of fun to think that I can recreate new incarnations from the same clay over and over again.

I hope you enjoy my "gallery", and thanks to Spencer for encouraging me to share!

Second week - warming up to "big"

The biggest bowl I've ever thrown! Still need work, but improving!

Going tall - then bringing it down to a vase.

Wet and dry pots

Here is my first try at a two-part pot - first I made the bottom half, then the top half as a cylinder of the same diameter. After a day of drying, I turned the top upside down, connected the two into a taller pot, and cut off the bat. I've trimmed and finished it a bit more and will add a final dry pot soon!

Next - a lidded soup tureen. Definitely need more practice with this!

Trying out a soup tureen with a lid...or two!

And today - two new big bowls! The first one was an awesome shape, but the bottom was a bit thin, so I smashed it and recreated. With my second bowl, I took a few pictures of the process, which was good for me since it meant I had to stop altogether to go wash my hands before picking up the iPad. I couldn't rush this one!

#1

and #2

First I wedged the clay into three manageable balls

Next, I centered each, one atop the others until it was one giant piece. I skipped a picture of opening and "preparing the donut" for pulling up the walls.