One of the first things that has to happen with a group of students on an intensive 3 month workshop is to get rid of the idea that everything you make is a treasure and must be kept no matter how good, bad or ugly( one of my favourite Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. We ain't doing a rerun of that here at La Meridiana. If your pot was all that good then surely you can make another as good or better!!!
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| The Cast |
We had them make 30 one pound cylinders, no shaping just cylinders to get the walls an even thickness. Today was a slipping demo on trailing, combing, marbling, paper resist, sgrafitto, finger wipes, thick slips, dipping slips, and then a handle demo.
What are they going to do with 30 cylinders each? Well, 20 of them went swimming in the slop bucket which gave them 10 to decorate and put handles on. Pulling handles is such a painful exercise to watch.
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| Swimming pool half full- more to come. |
I realize my job is not to have them come out making pots that look like mine so I am offering as many decorative techniques as I can think of. I will have realized a dream if a couple of them can make a decent handle by the end of the 12 weeks. I told them today that it is easier to learn how to make pots than make handles. I don't think many believe that.
Tomorrow it is 2 lb cylinders for possible vases, jugs and of course bacon dishes.
Here is today's lunch that was preceded with, red wine, spaghetti, then kabobs, dessert and espresso. I'm skipping the lunch and afternoon coffee as I haven't been sleeping all that well. A group of us go for a 50 minute walk through the hills of Tuscany after lunch.
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| And that ain't tofu!!!! |
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| Eat your heart out Sebastion Moh |
Suniana arrived this morning from India and has never used an electric wheel. She had caught up with the rest of the class by supper tonight. A kick wheel is a the best training wheel in the world. It teaches the proper rhythm to the making of a pot- fast and then as the process proceeds the speed lessens. Franco and I have a very good class.
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