This isn’t the first time this has happened. Accidentally stepping on the wheel’s pedal seems to be a yearly occurrence, although miraculously this bowl survived unscathed, it just needed a tiny bit of correcting on the foot where it was bashed from being slung against the tray.
Here’s another bowl, this time made with a coarse red stoneware body that, as you can see, I didn’t quite wedge properly, although the only remnant of pink lies in the foot and will eventually be hidden by glaze.
I start by refining the inside, scraping the walls, straightening the rim section and making the interior a lovely smooth curve. Then I tackle the outside, with steel tools mainly, as I’m still a little worried about using tungsten carbide blades with this gritty body, but I’m sure they’ll survive.
Most of the form is left relatively rough, as I don’t burnish it, but I do smooth the very bottom of the pot, the base, the part that will make contact with the table, as ultimately, I’d rather it didn’t scratch wood if dragged across a tabletop. My maker’s mark goes in, supported from either side so it doesn’t deform the foot, and that’s the vessel finished, for now. I’ll sling some plastic sheeting over it and let it dry slowly for a few days before letting it turn fully bone dry, whereupon it can be biscuit fired to 1000ºC.
#fail #blooper #blooperreel #pottery #ceramics #clay