Before continuing I had to score the last edge and moisten up the area to ensure the new fresh clay would blend well with the more dry base. This was the hardest part since the base clay didn't move much but it was fine in the end.
There is not much else to explain at this point except just keeping adding coils on over and over. This photo is at about 6 coils, about 25 cm.
The most difficult part was building without bringing in the mouth too much. Here after about 10 coils you can see how much the mouth of the vase has closed up. This was not good. If I kept going at this pace the vase would close up at only 30cm (and I want 90cm)
But lucky for me Arai Sensei helped me out and showed me how to stretch the clay out. You can see the difference from the photo above. The mouth has been widened. I used the same wooden smoothing tool from pt 1 to smooth the inside. But instead I used a little more force and formed the clay to the correct shape. I was lucky enough to have made the coils thick enough to allow this stretching and leeway to happen.If you look at the photos from top to bottom you can see I made this mistake right from the beginning. I should've tried to build the coils upwards instead of inwards from the beginning last night. But crises was averted.
While building it's important to check above and at eye level to make sure the piece is being built evenly all around. I put the vase onto a table top wheel to make it easier to build and see if it was even. A quick spin will show lumps and unevenness, as long as the vase is centered.
After checking for lumps and bumps I did some final smoothing out and this is the final result for now. It was re-wrapped and is waiting for the next set of coils. It is at about 32cm now. The next step should be faster and easier. One third of the way done! I'm up to 5 kg and 6 hours of time...ps. I know it looks lumpy now but that will change along the road since the outside will get shaved.
Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment