Progress Report...

Work on my amphora has progressed smoothly in the past week. I am now finished with the "wet clay" stage and my piece is currently drying. This coming week I will finish smoothing the sides, maybe even try out a black glaze if Professor Raimondo says I can start experimenting with glazes. The clay will be easier to smooth when it is dry--using tools like a flat, thin, flexible piece of sheet metal can be used to scrape the sides, or a damp sponge can gently smooth the delicate and irregularly-shaped parts.

Here is a picture of my piece when I started working on it during open studio hours last week.

I continued to add rings of clay formed from "spaghetti" out of the extruder machine. Each ring was scored with a sharp tool and joined together with a slurry made from the same clay, just as before.

Making slurry is not a "neat and tidy" process.

The work I did during open studio hours put me in a good position to finish sculpting my piece during class. I narrowed the neck as much as I thought wise, and then pulled the edges of the top ring out to form a wider rim. 

The greatest challenge was making sure the entire piece was centered. When one stands directly above the piece and looks down, the amphora simply looks like a series of concentric circles: the widest ring of the body, the outside of the rim, and the open hole. The piece will look odd if any of these rings if off-centered, and it is also crucial to center the bottommost ring (forming the base). If that base ring is off-centered, spinning the piece about its center axis will not be useful at all for centering the other parts. Accordingly, I spent a good deal of time trying to make sure the center hole, rim, widest point, and especially the base were all centered as much as possible. 

The artist, hard at work.

When I had arrived at the shape I wanted, I then started smoothing my amphora as much as the wet clay would allow. Most of the time I gently spun the entire piece and used the flat or slightly curved sides of a wooden tool to even out any bumps or uneven spaces. The pointed end of that wooden tool was also helpful for reshaping the center hole. 

Gently spinning.

Almost smooth.

When I had smoothed it as much as possible with the tools, I used my fingers to feel out and smooth any remaining bumps (sometimes closing my eyes for greater sensitivity). That was as smooth as I could get it while the clay was still wet, so when I had finished, I partially wrapped my piece in plastic (so it would dry slowly and without cracking) and set it on the shelf to dry. As a bit of a perfectionist, I cannot wait to see how smooth I can make it when it is dry!