It's time for a bit of work away from the potter's wheel. I'm running low on rectangular serving plates, which I call "trays."
Texture is super nice on these.
I've also been asked for mezuzahs lately, and I'm pretty much out of them. (These are cases only, for the uninformed. The parchment that goes inside has to be bought from a Judaica store.) The mezuzah cases can be as simple or complicated as I want. I let the spirit move me (ha ha) when I go to the texture bin for inspiration. The ones shown here are fairly simple, with just one flower or swirl stamp at the top and a letter "shin" stamp on the front. The glazes I put on them will finish the decoration.
From preparation, which means making paper templates (and making polymer-clay forms to wrap the rolled and cut clay around for mezuzahs) to accumulating raised fabrics and plastics and making stamps, for texture (to press into the clay slabs for the trays), even relatively simple pieces have a series of steps in their creation. Like the psychiatrist says in Analyze This, "It's a process."
A photo of the rawware step of the process- some pots so far, this week:
(The mezuzahs will attach to their eventual door frames with heavy duty Velcro that I double-epoxy onto the back for extra security. I don't risk using nails with these.)
Up from the basement now and out into the spring afternoon!