Hard to please #1

A recent sculptural vessel I'm calling "Hard to Please #1"...  The height is about 20 inches.  Stoneware.

Horizontal tubes

Here are a couple of recent pots based on horizontally positioned cylinders. I call them  tube pots.

(My next series will play with horizontal cylinders that have been folded and collapsed.)

Train Engine with Pink Wheels

Stone Pony

Clay origami

I recently watched a mind-bending video about origami, Between the Folds.  The concepts of folding can be applied to a broad range of subjects.  We are not just talking about paper airplanes and swans.   The physical features of any line or surface can be defined in terms of folds.  There are broad implications for 3d design, architecture, and chemistry.  I started thinking about what I could do with folds in clay ... and exciting ideas came to mind.

I immediately understood how George Ohr was able to control the way some of his pots collapsed.  He must have put folds (or pleats) in the walls before he squashed.  Wow!  I tried it ... and got interesting results every time.  Now I'm working on a series of pots that employ pleat-controlled collapse.  It is very cool!  You get a very organic form from a thrown vessel.  It is necessary to do hand building and/or complex construction of thrown parts to create a vessel or sculpture that utilizes the collapsed portion.

I'm having fun.  Click to see some images of this work.

Recent work - fun teapots

I want to share some images of recent cone 9 teapots.  These were fun to make - functional but unusual, constructed from thrown parts.

This one has an air-filled double-bubble handle that stays cool to the touch when the pot is filled with hot liquid.  It pours a smooth stream.

This was a fun assemblage of parts - five balls thrown as closed forms, two pulled and twisted hollow tubes, a pulled handle, a thrown neck with flange and lid-keeper, and a little perforated lid. Named "Teapot with Balls", this one was accepted to the Baltimore Clayworks exhibition "100 Teapots V", Jan 15 to Feb 27, 2011. Retail price $550.

3-spout teapot with ring handle. The middle spout pours hot liquid. The upper spout (on the handle) pours blessings. The lower spout is a handhold. The sand-blasted surface is soft like human skin.