Mark Shapiro and I worked together in his pot shop for nine years (more history with Mark to come) and we had a lot of slang and jive that got sallied around and one of those sayings was "chasing plastic". Chasing plastic was what we did for the day or so after a big day of throwing to finish the pots before they got too dry for handles, trimming feet, etc. After making some pots last Friday I came down with whatever my daughters brought home from school last week and was pretty miserable until today. Well I finally made it back this evening to deal out feet to some plates. I guess I've been influenced by those "blokes" across the waters. I have this combing tool that I've made out of a shim and most often use it on flower pots. So I tried it out on some plates. The marks seem a little timid, not the same flair as Matt Grimmet gets from combing through white slip to red clay, but something worth pursuing. And after all those stoneware pots I've looked at this week in the Cushman book...well, I did thrown them last week. By the way, the combing happens on the wheel before the plate is cut off. Tomorrow more construction. Time for the floor.
Which one of these do you like better? Your comments are welcome!
