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Final Week

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All of the glazed pieces of mine from the last two firings.  Making pots for the background set of the movie they're shooting at OCAC! This was really exciting. Apparently, the studio looked a little empty, and so somebody working for the movie asked Dale if they could 'hire' some people to make pots that they can set up in the studio, to make it look more like a real studio space. So, I got to sit down for two hours and throw all of these pieces. It was a really interesting and in a way liberating experience to throw all of these pieces, knowing that I wouldn't be keeping any of them. I was able to try out some forms that I hadn't tried before and didn't have to be as perfectionist about little smudges on the pots or other small imperfections, because they'd only show up in the background of a scene.  Raku firing at work.  Here's me brushing kiln wash onto these kiln posts, which makes it so that the kiln posts don't get stuck on the kiln shelves wh...
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Week 3

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A full board of bisque-ware. Waxing many pots that were recently bisque fired.  Glazing a lot of pieces once they'd been waxed.  Dale starting up the Raku firing. I was unfortunately only able to go to OCAC 1 day this week:( I have been pretty sick for the past two days, and so had to miss out on Thursday and today (Friday), which meant I was only able to go Wednesday because Tuesday I had something else get in the way as well. However, Wednesday was a very productive day!!! I spent a solid chunk of time waxing the bottom of my pots that had recently been bisque fired, which makes sure that the glaze doesn't stick to this part of the pot, and got a glimpse of how Raku firing works. Dale showed me how to wax pots by having them spin on the wheel, which makes the whole process much more efficient than slowly brushing the wax onto the bottom of each pot without the wheel. In order to start waxing a pot on the wheel, you have to center the pot first, which required a certain techn...
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Week 2

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Pots from the last firing.  Here are some pots I threw on Tuesday.  Glazing pots.  Here's me sifting a glaze. Dale taught me how to mix an old glaze that'd been out in use for a while, with a new batch of that same glaze. After the first glaze, I started figuring things out and kept thinking about how much work goes into making a studio space ready to use.  Before loading the kiln.  After! This took much longer and was a much more involved task than I'd prior expected. Here's me adding the finishing pieces to this puzzle.       This past week at OCAC, I continued throwing pots, glazing, loading and unloading kilns, and I learned how to stir glazes. Althouh last week I unloaded several kilns with Dale, this week I learned how to load one as well. This seems straightforward and simple, but loading this full kiln pictured above took us over 2 hours! I found it fascinating that despite all the technology around us, the system for loading a kiln s...
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Week 1

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Making some pots!!   Properly learning to pull handles In progress mug, after trimming Greenware pots waiting to be bisque fired!                                                            Learning how to recycle clay using this machine!                                                                        The materials room at OCAC. Some pots I made after a long throwing session with Dale:) ----------------------------------     My first week working at OCAC with Dale was a pleasure in all regards. Working for about 4 hours each day, I was able to accomplish much more in a period of time...
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