Who's on First?

I have two plates on the go. The second one is coming along nicely, the first one is stuck in stage one - well pre stage one actually, 


- except that doesn't make sense. 


So, revising that, if we say,
stage one is wedging and throwing, or handbuilding, etc. (i.e. making the pot)
and
stage two is glazing. (i.e. glazing the pot)


really, that would make the first plate at the beginning of stage two, rather than pre stage one. Stage one of stage two in fact. Whereas plate two is now at the end of stage two of stage two and is ready to proceed to stage three of stage two as soon as I get out to the studio. 


Comprende?


Let's start with plate two (as that always makes sense).

Here we can see that it has completed stage one of stage two.
(the first glaze coat)

And here it is still not completely dry from the final touches of stage two of stage two
(the second glaze coat)


Stage three of stage two will be when I put the third and final coat of glaze on. Then it will be ready to fire. (Always mixed feelings at this stage of the game).


At this point I should mention that there probably should be a few more stages thrown in there, like the first firing stage, and the second firing stage, oh, and the fact that I put two coats of white glaze underneath the underglazes and the glaze colours, etc., etc., but I think to add any more stages might be confusing...


So, here is plate one, untouched from when I took this pic a couple of days ago. 

It sits on the table taunting me as it is being painted with glazes and I'm having trouble remembering just how the colours will come out. Therefore it is still in stage one of stage two as I'm waiting for this one, 

which is finished, to be fired first. Then I will know what to do next with plate one and my hands wont get all sweaty when I try to make a decision as to where exactly the next colour should go. (If only I stuck to the pottery I wouldn't have to forget all this stuff).


This is the second plate - again.

This one is being painted with underglazes, and pretty much what you see is what you get. Much easier to work with as all the glaze colours, regardless of what their end result will be, tend to be shades of maroon and rust ...




So I hope that helps clears up where I am with the pottery progress. I think you can see from this that my life is often complicated but, at the same time, very interesting. It definitely keeps me on my toes ...




saturday notes: s didn't go back to school yesterday, as planned, but he did eat my dinner. he promises to go back today. actually, i will miss him more now than had he gone yesterday. i know. weird right. i can't explain it but it probably has something to do with writing about the plate. the whole thing is just messing with my mind now ...
so, i feel a bit low. all my babies gone, except n. she will have to do for now. and, as she does do wonderfully, that's fine by me. (she makes excellent tea actually. always made with love, as i've taught her, so it tastes better, and she has the uncanny knack of knowing exactly which mug to make it in and when. all part of the finesse of english tea making ...)