Here are a couple of examples of untrimmed bottoms on one of my vases. I do bump up the center slightly and roll the edge to create a bevel. This has the added advantage of providing a slight ridge to stop runny glazes.

Handle on cups

Recently there was an inquiry on a listserve concerning the advent of handles on cups. I found these Roman or Greek examples at the Carlos Museum at Emory University. Sorry for the quality. Hand holding a long shutter speed with no flash is not my best talent.

Here is the result of the pot in the picture with the massive failure next to it. It started out with 10 pounds of clay, ended up weighing 8. It is 15.5 inches tall by 11 inches at its widest. Tenmoku interior, Shino bottom with an ash glaze up top.

Frozen pots

Here are some pictures of what happens to pots that freeze during the drying process. Luckily in Atlanta this does not happen that often and when it does is usually is not as brutal as say a Michigan freeze. These were a set. The one on the left did not freeze as much as the one one the right. As soon as I unwrapped them the one on the right started collapsing. You can see on the one still standing the ice on the bottom. I saved it by letting it thaw slowly, removing the water and re-compressing the clay. The clay is stoneware.




This is another that I saved. It is raku clay so it is a little more open than the stoneware. Slow drying, getting the water off and re-compressing the clay saved it. The frost starts at the arrow and moves diagonally across the pot. Most people said to toss them in the recycle bucket since it would be faster to remake them. I thought about it but then when you take into consideration all that recycling the clay entails it made sense to me to at least try and save them. I will post the end result once they are out of the glaze kiln.