Soup's on...

I've worked so much and so hard for the past few days that my arms ache from my wrists up to my shoulders. I think I'll live. I'm just one of those people that have to tell you whenever I have an ache or ailment, and that's mine at the moment. 
So my newest project is soup bowls, but not just any soup bowls, I'll make you wait to see the finished product, they have a special twist, that's why the bowls are shaped very simple... trust me you will love the twist (I'll show them tomorrow when they are together). 

Ok I also learned a new trick! Whenever I throw sets of things like bowls or mugs I always work with a gauge. Typically I use a kabob skewer attached to my wheel with a hunk of clay to give me an idea of height and width, if you go too tall or too wide the skewer will rip the hell out of the piece you are working on, a hard lesson but it keeps you on your toes. I swapped out my skewer aka" pottery hating tooth pick on steroids" for a long bristled brush and it worked wonderfully. Best part is, no damage to my pots.

Slick huh? I'm pretty happy with that.

These bowls will have pulled handles if you are not familiar with what a pulled handle is, it's when you take a hunk of clay and well... you almost milk it like you would a cow but with no upstroke or milk, well you don't have to worry about getting kicked either for that matter. I'm great at explaining things huh? Well I took some pictures to help you understand. This is done with a bucket of water close by because you have to keep your hand really wet while doing this.

Start at the top and pull down gently

follow through all the way to the bottom

scissor it with your fingers gently to help shape the sides and pull down

flip it around and do both sides

Cut it off and repeat

When these stiffen up a bit to a "leather hard" stage I'll trim them and add them to my bowls and they will take on their final shape at that point.