Do Over

Today's post is in honor of the timeless principle of "do overs".

One of the things I like best about pottery is that nothing is irreversible ... until it gets fired (think: Mesopotamian shards found by archeologists) ... and sometimes even then: shards can become mosaic tabletops or picture frames, a la craft shows.

Witness the "oopsie" demonstrated above. My engineer was quite bummed when he accidentally shattered my little jar by knocking it over on my nighttable ... my folding iron bookcase used as a nighttable, that is.

But a little craft glue (sometimes it's quite handy being a crafty girl) and voila! Good as new, since stoneware is quite forgiving. (Porcelain would have been more likely to shatter into a Humpty Dumpty number of pieces.)

Witness also the unfired coffee mugs I made this month. I was pleased with the one on the left, but one of the ceramics gurus at the studio pointed out that the handle on the other mug was perhaps a wee bit thin.

Aside from the aesthetic considerations (his work is just beautiful*) consider what might happen once monster mug is filled with liquid. As any of you who have hauled around gallon jugs of milk or water knows, it's damn heavy.

(* Side note: the link above is to the holiday sale on Dec. 12-14 at the studio where I take my classes. The works are really reasonably priced, and Mr. Neil [see blue plate in center photo] also teaches the glazing class.)

So after painstakingly joining the handle to the body of the mug (you have NO IDEA how long that can take, even aside from drying time) I proceeded to rip it off and start all over.

Starting alll over includes making a whole new set of 6 handles (drat -- I thought I had taken photos of thos, but apparently not) from which I eventually selected one which I slowly attached to the mug body ... again. (see the one on the left in the lower photo) The water bottle is shown for scale since I like my cups BIG.

Although I'm now quite satisfied with the width of the handle, I'm still not sure that I like the curve, now that I see it in the photo.

Luckily, it is still wrapped and awaiting bisque firing, so I can probably (not definitely, only possibly) alter the curvature. The one on the right has gone off to meet the kiln, after which it will be staring-at-the-sample-tiles-wall, decision time re: glazing. (There is a final firing after the glaze is applied.)

The tea set on the right was made by someone else at the pottery studio. Just THINK about the number of steps it took to get to the final result. Her stuff is fabulous and I have promptly forgotten the mixture of glazes she used to get this lovely finish. I will have to ask her again. (Hi Diana!)