This week has again been filled and focused on making bird feeders. My first batch are nearly finished, four of them will be taken out of the kiln today after Wednesday’s glaze firing and the other four are waiting to be bisque fired.
While I’m in the swing of making bird feeders, I thought I’d make more in the white stoneware. The colour responses of the glazes on the two clays are subtly different and I also enjoy making them so why not. Yesterday I threw eight more. Fingers crossed there will be eight very nice feeders coming out of the kiln. (Counting pots that you make before they come out of the glaze firing is a bit like counting chickens before they hatch. There’s no guarantee they will all work.) Every time I make a new batch I try to make them better or more ergonomically. This time I added 100g to the weight of clay and it made such a difference. I was a bit mean beforehand with the amount of clay, only wanting to use as much as the final piece needed, just enough to get the height and curve right. This didn’t always work as not every feeder would behave; some would lose height as I collared in (shaping and narrowing in the top of the form), the fullness of the curve would be a bit higher or lower than desired and others would simply collapse as I tried to get the curve. They all looked great but I knew there was room for improvement. That extra clay gave me more scope to perfect the shape without having to worry about it collapsing or loosing height. The excess gets cut off as I am enclosing the top which is very satisfying to do. This was one of a few penny dropping moments I had when throwing yesterday.
This afternoon, depending on how the clay is, I will be trimming the bases. Cutting out the holes must be left to the next day. The clay needs to firm up more first as it can distort if it’s soft, like chocolate instead of cheddar cheese if you read my last diary entry. They are then left lightly covered until the next day to dry out more but not fully, when I will tidy up the edges of the holes and windows, stamp the base with my maker’s mark and leave them to dry out completely before they’re bisque fired.
Something else I have been doing recently is taking photos at the different stages of making the feeders. I’ll be putting this stop motion up on my Instagram account soon so keep an eye out.