April 15

            My cold happened!  I felt really sick this morning so I took some Dayquil and it’s making me feel really loopy and sleepy.  I felt like I couldn’t work because I’ve been in such a daze.  I jsut did some blind contours and waxed the bottoms of the five bowls, and then I had to finish a paper for world religions.  I didn’t get that much done, but at least it’s something.  I did five blind contours! 

            Tomorrow my goal is to make two platters.  I have to get a mold and hand-build them, which will be a nice change of pace maybe.  This summer when I was working with Tessa at Flying Pig Pottery I got to make platters for her and it was a really nice process.  You get to roll a slab, and she put fabric scraps on top of a mold and then you press the clay slab into the mold and it looks really lovely and smooth.  I have so much time to work tomorrow that it should be easy enough to get two made.  I also have the two serving bowls finished.

            Mr. Mogilnicki said that the kiln shelves are all gross and that I have to clean them before I fire my work.  I have to use something called kiln wash and a grinder, and apparently it’s going to be all messy and it doesn’t sound like any fun.  But it’s going to be good to get everything fired.  I’m so psyched actually!  It’s the most fun thing ever to get things out of the kiln.  It’s always a surprise and everything looks so nice and finished.  That’s why I like ceramics better than studio art, I think, because when something’s done it’s done.  If you’re making a painting or even a sculpture, there’s always something you can add or go over, but with pottery, especially functional pottery, everything is done in a few steps.  You want to get it off the wheel quickly so that it stays nice and fresh looking and once you glaze it and put it in the kiln, it’s finished and there’s no more serious tinkering that you can do with it.  You can rub ink into the cracks and things like that but it’s essentially finished once you put it in the kiln, and then it’s the most wonderful surprise a few days later!  And it all looks so professional even if it’s awful, because you got to use a kiln!  And there’s glass and it’s shiny and lovely!