Thrown pot before Altering
Janet McDougall enjoys working on the wheel and hand-building so a great way to enjoy both is to throw and alter her work.
Altered work encompasses an endless variety of options. These pictures are examples of altering the base of a pot. First step; throw a pot. In this case, Janet has thrown a round vase. It is important to have a good idea of what kind of altering will be done once the pot dries to leather hard. This will have an impact on the size and shape of the pot.
Once the pot has dried, but is still flexible, the altering can begin. I this case the very bottom inch or so of the pot was completely remove This allows the sides of the pot to be altered from round to oval.
Reshaped base
The next step is to work at shaping the sides. Janet cut out some of the clay from the sides and rejoined the sides to give the piece a new bottom and shaped sides. More refining and working the sides to give the piece the final shape is needed. The last step before drying is to decide what , if any, texturing will be done. In this case some carving and slip trailing was done to enhance the piece.
Refining and adding Texture
Once bone dry, touch ups need to be done before bisque firing and the final glaze firing. Altering a piece is a fun way to create truly unique pieces that are both functional and decorative.
