52 Form Project - Weeks 9 and 10

The 52 Form Project 

What is it?

My 52 Form Project is devised to help me stretch my creative muscles, explore new forms, or finally get to making forms I have been wanting to try for a long time. I am planning to make a new or modified form for every week of this year.

How can you help?

Your input on the forms, their shape, decoration, appeal, and function would be greatly appreciated. Some forms, if they seem like they may do well in the market, may become a part of my regular production.

Week 9 and 10

Sorry for the break in posting about the 52 Form Project. Broken wheels and power outages have a good way of throwing a wrench into the works, or making you more flexible!

As a part of the 52 Form Project, I wanted to revisit a form I made several years ago. The lidded dish I often called a "butter dish" until I was repeatedly asked if it were possible to use it for other purposes. They are made of two pieces, a low dish and a rounded lid.

I am excited to see what these dishes will look like in the kiln firing. I made sure to glaze the interior of the lid. The first time I made this form I found that the interior of the lid stayed very dry, which I think could be seen as disconcerting.

 I also made an attempt at a lidded dish with two flattened sides. I cut  the base much like the way in which I made the baskets, but rather than cutting one feather shape in the base, I cut two on either side of the dish base.

Courtesy, Arizona Daily Star

For my 10th week, I found some inspiration in a 100 year-old potter named  Rose Cabat. I read about an exhibition of her work opening in Arizona, and really wish I could see it in person. I particularly enjoy in the interview that she said, "I didn’t consider it a career...It was what I felt like doing. … If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t do it.”

Courtesy, Invaluable.com

Rose Cabat makes what she calls "feelies" which are seen in the photo above. I don't tend to be attracted to a form like this, but I think through my interest in her life and work as a potter I am fascinated by the form, the name, and the glazes.

When I went into making the form though, I found myself reverting to the familiar ovoid shape. I made a few pieces that admittedly look basically like ovoid bottles without handles, but then I went toward a different shape.

I have a terrible time leaving enough clay at the shoulder and neck for making a small bottle neck or opening.  Because of this, I found myself with an ovoid shape (which I love) and a simple, cupped rim. I think it might have some potential as a decorative vase, but I will reserve my final judgement for after the kiln firing. Here is how the other decorated pieces ended up:

White slipped surface with a scratched design

 I am going to work a little more on this venture. Making the ovoid shapes with the open rim (as opposed to the bottle shapes) felt really good and the design feels like something I want to return to. The bottle shapes felt just like that, bottles. If they had not dried out so quickly with the power outage, I think I would have just put handles on them, because they just look like bottles to me. Maybe I will also go back to attempting some "feelies!"