I’ve had so many new ideas lately that it’s hard to choose just one to roll with. I haven’t been doing much in the studio this week. I did make some bowls to try this new decorating idea, but I feel like I need to fire a kiln or something to get motivated. At the same time, I’m almost too content to sit at home and relax like normal people do on Sunday. I still have to workshop to plan for– I did write a brief history and explanation of ceramic art, including descriptions of the basic making techniques. I just have to finish explaining wheel-throwing and then I will send the info to the jailhouse education instructor. After that, I need to write my power point presentation and record some demonstration videos since my tools at the actual jailhouse will be limited. I won’t have a potter’s wheel and they said not to bring any sharp objects… which rules out most of my tools for hand building and decorating as well. I wish there was a way to have a pottery wheel there. I doubt I can take one from the studio here…

Anyway, my new decorating idea is working out fine, but I’m having trouble deciding on how to place my drawings on these bowls. I don’t really want to stick with a radial design around the foot, even though it does look nice.

The first step of my new idea was to order some 2 oz. plastic spray bottles. Next, I filled them with watered down Amaco velvet underglazes. I was surprised at how easy it was to spray the underglazes through the bottles. They do settle fast so I’m always shaking the bottles up again before I spray, but the results are almost identical to my water color drawings! 🙂 Which is what I’m going for.

I designed this bowl to be close to the drawing of the radial protea design, just to see how it would look in 3D. The ironic this is that I’m bored of wheel throwing lately, but I’m supposed to be the wheel throwing instructor for my new job in the fall. Maybe I need to try some other clay out. Porcelain just isn’t fun to wrestle with on the wheel. I do still make bowls and cups on the wheel with it, but lately I just want to hand build flower vases.