You are your own serendipity

I am always over the moon when the pots come out of the kiln better than I could ever have imagined. That happens maybe in 1 outta of every 10 pots. I have never seen an ordinary pot look extra ordinary after a firing. I have seen good pots look better!!! I'm showing here some slip cast pots that I have hung on to and I never hang on to my own pots. People think slip casting is a way to make multiples of the same form and it can be. I really enjoyed adding some character and serendipity to the slip cast forms. Just like a thrown form they were a canvas for me. Not so much a painters canvas as a potters canvas. Clay being my paint. What I like about these pots is that they show a joy in making. I had fun! I do a little bit of subtracting of clay but mostly I am an adder of clay. The form is the canvas. With this series I used a porcelain slip and in some cases I added stains to the slip for pink or light blue. The additions were the pieces I subtracted and sometimes they were black stoneware clay. My mantra around the wood kiln is "Tall and thin always get in. Bowls and plates sit and wait". I could work for years on these vases to try to fill the wood kiln. That would be sooooo much fun and a wonderful creative exercise. One form with different approaches. I think back to firing at Mich Cassons in Wales when he fired 180 jugs in his two chamber wood fired kiln. Nothing but jugs!!! Gee, I wonder why he was known as the jug man?????? Life is about having fun! Have fun in your work. The work can be serious and fun. If you are fun to be around then make fun pots people will want to invite into their lives. As y'all know I have a serious collection of Ron Meyers pots. I love having them in my life. They are fun!