Lars does all of our wheel work while I do the majority of our hand building. Today, I worked on forming tiny bowls while he worked to refine a number of his textural tumblers. (I'll describe his process on another day so I can capture some photos for you!)
Lars and I work almost exclusively in porcelain. Personally, it's all I really want to work in as I love the smooth, velvety feel in my hands. We also love it because its bright white color is a great contrast to both Lars' textural work and to my painted pieces.
To create my work, I 'rough out' each piece by pinching, pushing and pulling the clay into my basic form. I then let them rest until they firm up enough for me to start refining them with a metal rib.
If it is late in the day or if things are drying too quickly, I'll store my work in a damp box. I'm often taking pieces in and out of the boxes as I work over the course of two-three days refining each piece. I like the work to be as smooth as possible -- both for the incredible feel of the porcelain and because it works best with my illustrations.
I'd love to say we made it to the beach today but I must admit, we did not. I did get 15+ pieces formed. Lars finished his tumblers and started throwing some bowls. We did get the garbage out and got the mail but other than that, we were in the studio.
But tonight is pizza night! Have a good one, all!