Making Bowls

Bowls made using hand building techniques are more difficult to get perfectly round and with an evenly level rim than ones formed on a potter's wheel. That is, it's difficult for me, so I give myself leeway and permission to let them be what they are.














Yet, I have been hankering to make a big bowl using the hump mold technique that is not warped. I know they warp because I fuss with them. They need to be left alone and not handled after they are off the mold.

When I saw this one heading for the warp zone, I gave it some wacks, trimmed it, and now it is a oval platter. Not a perfect oval either, just like its round brethren.

bowls with red engobe inlaid and sgraffito

 

But for my last batch of making before the open studio I have gone on a hump mold campaign with some of the abundant free, warm buff clay from the defunct Highland Studio. Each one is created in its own creative surge - I make up what it will be while it's being made - no plan. So one is stamped, one has applied geometric shapes, one is scratched and so on.








Will they warp? As they dry and during firing will they remember the pressures that they experienced while being made? They say clay has memory, and I found that it is all too true. Or will I succeed in getting them to be roundish?

Meanwhile, here is a smaller bowl I made recently. I used the pinch method, held it in my hands and turned it while I gradually thinned and extended the walls. These kind of bowls, I think, are always nice to hold because they are proportioned to a person's hands.