First Time Potter: The Bottle Saga

When I took the pottery class this spring, I mostly just wanted to have fun. But true to my nature, I found myself looking for a challenge. Though the class had little structure, the teacher did demonstrations every now and then. One such demonstration was how to make a bottle. You make a cylinder, which is a great thing to practice, and then you bring in the top. That was the easy two steps according to the teacher, anyway. I thought it looked like fun, so I set out to make my own bottle. My attempts produced a number of bowls and vases, but I could not get my cylinder tight enough and tall enough to bring in the bottle neck. Finally, after a good couple weeks of work, I made my first bottle.

Here it is in all the phases of pottery making!

First you throw it (make it on the wheel)....

Then you bisque fire it (fire at a low temperature)...

Then you glaze it...And lastly, you fire it again! But you'll have to wait for the next post to see the final product.