I saw a chip and dip plate somewhere recently and had it in my head that I wanted to make one.
I used my larges GR Pottery form as the base, I think its 13x17, but its the largest oval they have. I then cut 2 long strips that were 4 inches high to go around the outside edge. I used a fairly fat coil to secure the edge on the inside. Last I added a compartment in the middle to hold the dip. I secured the sides and the bottom with a coil there as well.
I let it setup overnight and then cut handles in the sides. It's really hard to see the pattern right now, but it is heritage lace with trees, bears, and deer. Fingers crossed this makes it all the way through the process.
I use my GR Pottery forms a lot for various things. My favorite stacking form is the middle 3 hexagons. It's the perfect bowl for pasta, salad, ice cream.... During ClayShareCon I bought a stack with the intention of having Craig make me a permanent stack. He glued them together, sanded down the sides, and added a handle. It worked so well and no lines!
The handle made it really easy to pull out. When I just stacked them I'd always end up with a nail mark getting out the smallest one.
When I had it upside down to create the form I stacked spacers to cover the handle. This handle took two of the 1/2" and one of the 1/4".
I left extra clay at the rim because I was going to do something with it, but ultimately decided to trim it.
I might have a rolling pin problem. I bought several in the last few months and needed a place to store them. Craig made me the last one, but it was a bit complicated. During the studio tours for ClayShareCon I noticed that someone had what looked like wine bottle holders on the wall. It seemed like a great idea so I bought them. Rather than put them up individually on the wall, Craig made a board that we hung with 7 of them.
The funny thing was that Craig didn't realize that the holders were angled so that the cork of the wine bottle would be wet. He lined up the screws. Once he saw it he was all frustrated that it's crooked. I'm just happy to have my pins not precariously stacked in a bin where every so often I drop one on my feet.
All the bowls in this post are the ones I made from templates from my Cricut. I'm really happy with the shapes and how they came out. Next step there is going to be to make some smaller ones (and then likely some bigger ones too!).
A bunch of the things in this kiln are for an upcoming bingo event with my company. When Covid happened all in person events got cancelled and in May of last year we got a point where our leaders felt like we needed to meet, even if it was virtual. It was scheduled for a few hours Friday night, 10 hours on Saturday, and then another 5 hours on Sunday. After working all week on zoom meetings, it sounded awful. I needed something to entertain myself so I didn't go completely insane. I talked to a colleague about it and we came up with bingo. My company has all kinds of words that we use that are super meaningul to us, but not to anyone else. There are also lists of words that our execs say or use as examples. Last year we did it underground because I wasn't really sure how people were going to take the mocking. It is meant with love, but it is still mocking :). So we did it and not only was it fun, but I had a whole bunch of people say that it helped them pay more attention than they would have otherwise.
Even though everything is opening up, we are having another virtual gathering this weekend. But....bingo has gone mainstream and with prizes! My mugs have been so popular within the company that our marketing team suggested that they be the prizes. As I was making the mugs I decided that we needed a better prize for the grand champion (aka the person who fills their entire card). I felt bad that Sara, who won last time, didn't get anything so I made her a plate too.
I saw a picture of a candle holder that I absolutely loved. I tried to track down the artist to buy one, but their online presence was non existent for the last 5 years. So I tried to make my own. It's not as refined as I want, but I'm happy with it as a first attempt.