Worm's Ceramics Blog

Hello to anyone who is out there and stumbles across this lonesome, obscure blog.  Worm Ceramics here and I just wanted to write a bit about letting go and how that pertains to the ceramics process.  I've been frustrated the past couple days.  Mostly due to ceramics and the mistakes I've made.  Mistakes I probably could have prevented but was either being sloppy or didn't know I was detrimentally affecting the outcome of the piece.  In short, I've been coning wrong. Or sometimes I don't fuse two pieces of clay securely enough.  I've had a handful of cracks, ruptures, glazes that bubble. I've forgotten to sand down sharp edges, paint three layers of underglaze, touch up a bottom or sand down kiln wash that gets stuck to my pieces.  It kind of feels like I've been making mistake after mistake after mistake. Even though I know this is part of the learning process, it still hurts to think about my unintentional carelessness.  Anyways, I've been think...

Hello fellow Internet dwellers,  Worm Ceramics here again.  I'm on my third teapot and I'm here to update that progress has been looking really good thus far.  No hairline cracks yet!  So, I threw on the wheel as usual. Still having trouble gaining height, which is why my teapots are quite squat in shape.  This one will be a bit bigger than what I intended. I'm really inspired by Chinese and Japanese teapots, I love the compact, bulbous and squash shapes that they normally possess.  Anyways, I took a chance and trimmed the teapot at the studio while he was probably still too wet, but I was delicate with the pressure and only lost control of the needle tool momentarily when I was trimming the outside of the lid.  So, took him back to my house, pulled the handle, fluted the body, decorated the lid, and am quite content with the outcome of how he's looking.  Will bring him into the studio tomorrow to dry out some more and hopefully be bisque fired th...

Hi Internet world,  Worm Ceramics here. I just wanted to share this post about one of my flower mugs that I recently got back from the studio.  I made four of these free-form mugs on the wheel, which was really fun and experimental because I didn't have to worry too much about pulling up my cylinders perfectly, since I was going to play later on.  My favorite tool, a sponge on a stick came in handy when it came to forming the curves and different dents in these mugs.  The most laborious part was after I painted on the white flowers with underglazes, because then I had to coat them in wax, dip the cups in two glazes, and then do the clean up work.  Unfortunately, the underglazes kind of got scraped off in the cleaning process, but the runny mason stains that I sprayed on after the glaze had dried turned out really cool and I like the effect.  Maybe I'll go heavier on the green next time and not bother with the yellow drippy stains, I still have two more mug...

Hi Internet realm,  So, today one of my favorite mushroom jars is off to a new home, which has me feeling very grateful but also sad.  I didn't know that parting with the things I'd be making would be this difficult, because inevitably I want them to sell too...  I think it's because of all the labor that goes into the piece, especially the physical labor on the wheel, conceptualizing, reshaping the form, looking at it from afar to make sure it's exactly how I want it.  Then the waiting time, the trimming, taking it back home to decorate it, hoping that none of the mushroom pieces pop off because the clay is drying at different times.  Then hoping that the piece makes it through bisque and the second firing without cracks or ruptures from the clay or bubbling from the glaze.  And this jar did! And he turned out really great and I was so proud of the work.  But packing him up today in bubble wrap and newspaper just left me with a sad twang in the bottom...

Hello Internet friends!  Worm Ceramics here. Just wanted to update whoever is out there and reading this on my mushroom teapot journey.  So I started maybe two weeks ago. I've been throwing my brown clay on the wheel, which is super plastic and smooth but also very temperamental. It doesn't like to be stretched or manipulated too much.  After throwing the body, spout, and lid, I assembled all of the pieces and pulled the handle.  The teapot was looking real cute! I could see the mushroom forms right then and there.  One of my mistakes that I should have seen coming but overlooked were the holes. I poked five of them in the body on the inside.  And, as it turned out, despite cleaning them out before firing the glaze still ran and sealed them.  With a screwdriver and hammer I managed to chip away at the glaze, but the holes are pinpricks and water flow is pathetic and just downright sad.  Still a little disappointed, was really hoping this guy would...

I really do love this brown clay, it has such a loamy, deep color that I've only seen in rich, umber oil colors.  But it's just so finicky and I haven't found a way to tame it yet.   I've made twenty or so jars and a handful of planters using this brown clay. A lot of the times it cracks on the rim after being fired. Or hairline cracks surface along the body.  Sometimes pieces I attach pop off during firing.  If anyone read my other post about the clay teapot and battling the hairline crack, this is my second week trying to come out victorious.  I rehydrated the brown clay body and then used slip mixed with vinegar and toilet paper and then vigorously agitated the crack (which was creeping all along the underside of the teapot) before patching it up.  As expected, it kept reappearing, and I kept patching.  It was so stubborn!  So far, I've managed to seal the crack(s), but I have that deep, unsettling feeling that it will prevail once the tea...