Wednesday, March 15, 2017

TO FIT OR NOT TO FIT

I am sure that in the past I have mentioned that I have a love/hate relationship with terra cotta and when I am in that cycle and determined to throw larger pieces, throwing pieces/parts tends to be the rule of the day. Illustrated is the tops and bottoms for two pitchers, each piece measures approximately 11" tall and when fired they will come in at just about 18" to 19" and were originally designed after seeing a cartoon with animated chess pieces. I should also mention the top and bottoms fit together with contrasting angles thrown in to the bottom piece and cut in to the top pieces when removed from the wheel head to create a simple to fit, attach and throw seam that is easily blended and to date has never cracked or failed in the firing. They look a bit sterile at this point but once assembled, I will throw them just a bit to create a more graceful form and complete them with a thick ovoid handle. I am not sure how they will be decorated at this point but I suspect I will go the route of the abstrakt resist decoration to complete the forms.
You can see two finished jugs of this type in a post from a long while back;