LIGHTHOUSE POTTERY

My last pottery project was a lighthouse for Cindy.It was fun to work on. 

I rolled out a slab of clay so I could make a cone first. The pottery lab has press that can take a block of clay and flatten it out as thin as you need. After that piece I rolled out another piece to wrap around the bottom of the cone for the stonework. Once those two pieces were melded together I worked on the copula. Altogether the lighthouse was in 4 pieces. The copula was in 3 pieces. 

I dropped and broke one of the copula pieces after it was fired and fragile and had to make another one. I textured the section of stones and around the main body like I wanted. I used a piece of plastic that I believe was once a toy part. There is a whole bin of different things that were re-purposed for the texture. Then when the texturing was all ready I glazed it. 

To glaze there are a great number of colors to choose from. You choose the color you want, stir up the bucket containing that glaze and when it is the right texture you dunk your piece in it - a quick in and out.

The copula was all black while the main body was to be white. Once all the pieces were fired I found out that the glaze ran a bit so it looks like it is partially cover in snow and ice. No problem. It is simply winter. 

I brought it home and was excited about giving it to Cindy. She was out of town so I had time to finish it. IT WAS THEN I BROKE IT INTO 3 PIECES. I wanted it to sit flat and not lean but some glaze had dripped unto the bottom and fuzzed there creating a bump that caused it to lean.

I found out that a hack saw doesn't cut through glazed pottery. Using a hammer and chisel wasn't a good alternative. One too many taps broke it apart. I was in the process of finishing this present and I BROKE IT INTO PIECES. Now what?

It just so happened that I had purchased epoxy to glue the copula to  the top of the lighthouse so I mixed it up and glued everything back together. It worked. Now using acrylic paint I touched up the cracks, added the yellow for the light and black painted dowels to finish the copula. I made some doors out of plastic and glued them inside. It was work but fun. 

I got the lighthouse to sit flat before Cindy got home.
I believe I'll do more pottery next Fall.