A really useless jug!

For some random reason I decided to make a useless jug.  

I wanted it to be a challenge to pick up due to a strangely shaped handle, and just in case someone fancied using it as a jug or a vase, I put holes all the way down the back to make it totally leak if water was added.

Why?  No idea.  Just a strange idea.

Anyway… I hand build it using rolled out slabs of clay.

I then painted it in a few coats of different coloured slips.

Can’t even remember what colours I used as I was just grabbing anything from the cupboard, so it will be a nice (or not) surprise when it comes out of the kiln.

I decided to do some random designs on it too with my Sgraffito carving tool.  I marked off some sections to begin…

… then lightly marked a pattern so I could go back and carve it properly once done.

Quite pleased with the outcome so far, it will look a little different once glazed and fired.

Making a teapot / sugar bowl / jug

 

Still at home with COVID, I joined a uni class using video calling so I could see what was happening in real time.

This lesson was how to make a jug, sugar bowl with lid and a teapot with handle, lid and spout!

Much harder than it looked!

I switched on my pottery wheel and got to work.

I started off with a shape – this was supposed to be the teapot, but ended up being the sugar bowl.

Next I attempted a lid…. Didn’t manage to get a nice round ball on the top for the handle, but let’s call that a design feature  😊

Spouts are evil!  I mean, just how hard can it be to make a small thin spout?   Very hard.  I made four spouts and this was the most spout like, even though it looked like a stumpy elephants trunk!

And finally a jug, quite pleased with the shape of this one I have to say.

 

Now it was time to let them all dry a little, while I make some handles and try to figure out how to attach them all together!

Attaching the spout was a tricky procedure, I trimmed to much off it trying to get it to fit the shape of the pot.

…. And we have to address the elephant in the room, that that spout is just a bit too trunk like.   But, at least it should pour well!

Handle on, spout on, lid trimmed to fit!

We have a teapot… might not be the prettiest teapot, but I am rather pleased with it  😊

The sugar bowl was next for a trim – maybe it looks more like a small ginger jar, but again, the lid fits, so I am happy with that.

And my milk jug has a handle!

I found the handles quite tricky to deal with, they either got to dry and cracked, or I just couldn’t make them even enough. More practise needed there!

So, my teaset is not really in good proportion to each other, but I feel a sense of achievement that I have managed to make one.

Let’s see how the firing goes.