Wheel Throwing Series The three pieces in this series are a cylinder, a bowl, and a vase. The base of the cylinder is very wide compared to its height. The vase has an odd asymmetrical shape. I don't know how I managed to make such an asymmetrical shape on the wheel when I was going for a symmetrical shape, but I decided to keep this piece in the series because I like how the odd shape reminds me of a gourd. I added lines to all 3 pieces in the series while trimming them. I added several lines with a pin tool and then one with a small ribbon tool on each piece. The lines make the series more cohesive and add rhythm to each individual piece.
I spent the first several days on the wheel trying to make cylinders. My first tries were pretty unsuccessful. I struggled a lot with pulling up and trying to make the walls of the cylinders thin enough. I ended up with several complete cylinders but chose to include this one in the series primarily because of its size. This cylinder is significantly bigger than the other ones I was able to make which improves its range of function. I think I will use this cylinder to hold pencils.
The bowl in this series was actually my first attempt at making a bowl on the wheel. If I was to make this piece again, I would make the walls a little thinner, but I am happy with the transition between the wall and the base on this piece. Overall I think that this piece was pretty successful for my first bowl.
The vase was one of my early attempts at shaping a cylinder. I was trying to make it symmetrical, but that obviously didn't work out. I made sure to have my elbows locked the whole time so this was likely because I knocked it off center at some point, but I kind of like the asymmetrical gourd-like result.
I also struggled a little bit with trimming. On the first day of trimming I went to trim one of the cylinders that I'd finished and I ended up trimming a hole through the bottom. I learned to be more careful when checking to see how much space I have in the bottom. After this mistake, I was more conservative with how much clay I took off the bottom and ended up trimming the 3 pieces in the series successfully.