Wednesday, July 1, 2015

SERIES

I mentioned the other day that I ended up hand building several henko style bottles and illustrated is another from that series. This bottle ended up about 2" taller and perhaps just a bit wider in depth and taper, as I mentioned previously, it seemed like a really good idea at the time though the glaze firing will be the final judge in this matter. I should probably mention that these pieces are not made in a conventional manner, using three slabs, two for the body and one for the bottom, the top section is folded and then paddled around a small piece of 2" x 4" as I go along to define the form, slow and steady wins the race. This way there are no real seams along any edges or the top, hopefully minimizing any cracking. I have not seen this technique done before, though I am sure it is out there, think John Gill meets full contact origami; it just seemed a natural fit for me and it has worked in previous attempts. As I have probably related previously, I have a real love/hate relationship with handbuilding; I the process but love it when they come out well.
"Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to the human existence."  William Blake,