After I took a recent clay Christmas tree workshop, I had to come home and spend more time with my favorite of the techniques. In the class, we began with clay spheres that we shaped into pyramids and then hollowed out most of the middle. We did this so the walls wouldn’t be too thick for firing. I decided to skip the sphere and pyramid stage and created cones. This is how I make all my gnomes. I rolled out slabs of clay, cut triangular pieces and rolled the pieces (scoring and slipping the overlapped areas) around a cardboard cone. This saved a lot of time and clay. I rolled out several different sized trees and then cut into the outside of the trees with the tip of safety scissors to help create the look of branches. I added a couple of stars on top. I finished them with a few different celadon glazes.
Looking back, I’m not crazy about how they turned out. They look rudimentary, misshapen, and strangely colored. I much prefer the original one from the workshop. I do like the darker green trees, the lighter green ended up looking more yellow than I had anticipated. I think the original tree works better because of the brown speckled clay and the glaze choice that breaks over the textures. If I could do them over I would have chosen a darker clay body and I would have taken more time and care in shaping the trees. I also got in such a rush to get them to my studio that I accidentally broke several stars that were on top of the greenware trees.
Even though I don’t love them, I decided I should post my failures along with the successes. I need to get away from perfectionism. I would definitely like to think that I learn from my mistakes and miscalculations – at least regarding my clay projects. 😉
