A Resolution I managed to keep

[JeffS73]

Super pots Sputnik, great to have another new potter in England. What you say about "can't imagine not doing it" now you've started rings true for me too.

 

[Sputnik 184]

Super pots Sputnik, great to have another new potter in England. What you say about "can't imagine not doing it" now you've started rings true for me too.

All I want to do is keep experimenting at the moment. The problem with me is keeping my progress in a linear direction. I’m too prone to trying things without good reason and not learning from my mistakes and successes.

After looking at Pitoons beautiful tiny pots and with the other part of my resolution being mame I thought I ought to try going smaller. No wheel and no throwing experience so I tried to coil build a very much smaller pot. This pot is 3.5 inches diameter and pretty basic. It took almost as long as my larger pots to make though. It was so fiddly. I then tried forming a pinch pot and pressing it into a small trinket dish to give me a basic outside shape smoothing the interior with a mini plasticard shaper which gave me the support to the outside while I scraped the inside to shape and smoothed it. I left it to dry and it shrank and released from the “mould”. I was then able to cut drainage holes and apply feet in a conventional way. The resulting pot was much more elegant and had been much less stressful to produce. It is slightly larger than my first coil build but that’s just the size of its slump mould.

 

[JeffS73]

That second one is fab!

 

[Sputnik 184]

That second one is fab!

Building it this way allowed me to build to a desired thickness. I tried the same mould but with slightly thicker sides and decorated it with rivets to give a mini version of my oxide pot shown earlier.

 

[W3rk]

There was a post at the start of the year entitled “What will you do in 2022 to push your boundaries?”. My resolutions were to try Mame and to start making pots. Well I took a few handbuilding lessons from Nick Payne of Springwood Ceramics in the spring and got myself a small s/h kiln and gave it a go. Some failures along the way but these are some of the ones I feel reasonably happy with. They are all coil built and using traditional shapes. I’m hoping to get these planted up in the spring. Enjoying it so much I’m now wondering whether to make some to sell. If you keep producing you can only plant up so many yourself.

That's.... almost startling that these are coil built. Ahh... I saw you mention that you are using molds?

Your glazes are phe-nom-e-nal.

 

[Sputnik 184]

That's.... almost startling that these are coil built. Ahh... I saw you mention that you are using molds?

Your glazes are phe-nom-e-nal.

All the medium and larger pots are coil built but I’m afraid I couldn’t get the thickness or the size down on the very small pots with coil building. The walls were just too chunky or too wobbly so I decided to use the outer support given by a slump mould and then scrape the inside to shape. Feet and other decorative details are made and added separately after removal from the mould That way the pots can have a wall thickness in keeping with the size. Next task with this project is to vary the moulds and scrapers to create different pots. I don’t want this to be a substitute for my coil building, nor do I want to go down the slip moulding route but coiling diameters under about 5 inches I just don’t find enjoyable. If my aim is a Mame or small Shohin pot its a set size. It’s just far too fiddly and it definitely wouldn’t make a pot financially viable should that ever affect me. This way I’m still hand building but with less stress. It also gives me a chance to play with my glazes and decoration without so much pressure.

I’m really grateful for all the positive comments. I thought I was on the right track but it’s always good to have the views of others especially fellow potters and bonsai enthusiasts.

 

[Kyleboldy2003]

wow very nice work. Ive been trying to push my limits to and try coils but it is not working out for me at all. I dont know if I am just not doing it proper or what. Also how are you making the cloud feet they are great... Anyways congrats and your work looks awesome....

 

[Sputnik 184]

wow very nice work. Ive been trying to push my limits to and try coils but it is not working out for me at all. I dont know if I am just not doing it proper or what. Also how are you making the cloud feet they are great... Anyways congrats and your work looks awesome....

Thanks. What are you finding a problem with coil building? My cloud feet are either made using silicone moulds of feet from traditional pots or silicone moulds of feet I have modelled myself. I feel I have to do this for consistency.

 

[Kyleboldy2003]

I think I am using it when the clay is too soft. I have done it a few times have not really put in the time that I need to. After a few things coming up soon I will try to start trying again . I was thinking of trying to make some sprig molds for more consistency. your pots look great though keep up the good work

 

[Sputnik 184]

I found one of the most important things with coil building is making sure the base is really leather hard before trying to add the coils. Don’t rush things. Build your walls and smooth the coils together and then roughly shape at that stage. I then allow the walls to get to a medium leather before scraping with a shaped scraper and I usually leave mine for 12-24 hours between building and scraping wrapped with polythene.

Good luck

 

[Kyleboldy2003]

I found one of the most important things with coil building is making sure the base is really leather hard before trying to add the coils. Don’t rush things. Build your walls and smooth the coils together and then roughly shape at that stage. I then allow the walls to get to a medium leather before scraping with a shaped scraper and I usually leave mine for 12-24 hours between building and scraping wrapped with polythene.

Good luck

Thanks I’ll keep it in mind. I appreciate it

 

[Sputnik 184]

I wanted more variation in size and shape with my little pots so my husband 3D printed me a smaller version of the shape I used for the grey/blue pot and the rivet pot. These two little pots were made from the mould. Same technique, hand scraped inside with hand made and applied feet. Now I’ve got down to a mame size.

 

[Sputnik 184]

Alongside the small pots i have still been coil building larger pots. My kiln size limits me at the moment in diameter but these are very much deeper than I have done before and at my maximum diameter. I made these for a family member who likes his bonsai pots traditional in shape but a little deeper. There are two similar pots which will be glazed differently. The feet were moulded from one of my Japanese pots. I didn’t think I could really better them for style or size. Not sure how many I will be making this size. They’re really heavy to flip.

 

[Colorado]

Alongside the small pots i have still been coil building larger pots. My kiln size limits me at the moment in diameter but these are very much deeper than I have done before and at my maximum diameter. I made these for a family member who likes his bonsai pots traditional in shape but a little deeper. There are two similar pots which will be glazed differently. The feet were moulded from one of my Japanese pots. I didn’t think I could really better them for style or size. Not sure how many I will be making this size. They’re really heavy to flip.

Really impressive! I also like to coil-build rounds, but I am nowhere close to achieving this level of refinement. Well done! And the feet are great…

 

[Sputnik 184]

Really impressive! I also like to coil-build rounds, but I am nowhere close to achieving this level of refinement. Well done! And the feet are great…

Thanks. I shall be glazing them later so fingers crossed. These were quite hard work and in a clay I hadn’t used before. Don’t think I could bear it if these didn’t make it through.

 

[TomB]

There was a post at the start of the year entitled “What will you do in 2022 to push your boundaries?”. My resolutions were to try Mame and to start making pots. Well I took a few handbuilding lessons from Nick Payne of Springwood Ceramics in the spring and got myself a small s/h kiln and gave it a go. Some failures along the way but these are some of the ones I feel reasonably happy with. They are all coil built and using traditional shapes. I’m hoping to get these planted up in the spring. Enjoying it so much I’m now wondering whether to make some to sell. If you keep producing you can only plant up so many yourself.

Just saw this - these are really good! All those years of hanging round the potters' stands have paid off
Very usable shapes and glazes as well. Looking forward to buying some from you.

 

[Sputnik 184]

Just saw this - these are really good! All those years of hanging round the potters' stands have paid off
Very usable shapes and glazes as well. Looking forward to buying some from you.

Thanks Tom. Shapes and glazes are a bit limited at the moment but I made my mind up to try to reach a satisfactory level at each stage before moving on. It’s not in my nature really. I’m normally a bit bull at a gate but Mike’s a good moderating influence and we’re doing much of the work together.

 

[Kyleboldy2003]

Thanks Tom. Shapes and glazes are a bit limited at the moment but I made my mind up to try to reach a satisfactory level at each stage before moving on. It’s not in my nature really. I’m normally a bit bull at a gate but Mike’s a good moderating influence and we’re doing much of the work together.

wow they are very nice pots. congrats keep up the good work

 

[Sputnik 184]

Alongside the small pots i have still been coil building larger pots. My kiln size limits me at the moment in diameter but these are very much deeper than I have done before and at my maximum diameter. I made these for a family member who likes his bonsai pots traditional in shape but a little deeper. There are two similar pots which will be glazed differently. The feet were moulded from one of my Japanese pots. I didn’t think I could really better them for style or size. Not sure how many I will be making this size. They’re really heavy to flip.

The big pots fired okay. Pictured with some of the small pots fired with them.

 

[JeffS73]

Wow, lots of elements came together here, well done. Are you making your own glazes? They've got great variation, assuming you're firing in an electric kiln. The moulded feet are super too. Can I ask what silicone you used? When I've looked before there seem to be a lot of choices.