Decoration - even colour!

Last Wednesday I got back my flower pedestal piece, which I had coloured with underglaze and then applied a clear glossy glaze.  I used yellow, orange and red on the flower, mixing some of the shades and applying with a brush.  The pedestal I painted in a couple of shades of green.  I am never confident about any decoration at all, certainly not using colour, and I am very pleased at how this piece has turned out.

Flower Goblet

  I took some of my own clay along to this week's class, and started pinching a new flowery pot.  Continuing at home while it was still soft enough I formed the petal tops, then when it was drier I scored lines for the edges of the petals down to the foot of the pot.  I later decided it would be better to have multiple rows of petals, more like a chrysanthemum, but after much messing about went back to the original idea - the chrysanthemum will have to be another pot!

Pinch pots #1

One of the options I have chosen is pinched forms - not something I've done very much in the past or had any great success with, but on the first week of the course I had a go at one with everyone else and loved the technique and the finished article so much it seemed like a good idea.  Plus it works very well with the nature theme I am going for, being far less strict than something like throwing, less severe than slabbing - just perfect.