A recurring theme in my part-time pottery hobby has been fish. It started one night when I was going through the instructor’s box of patterns and found a fish one, so I used it to make a pencil jar and a coffee mug, both of which now adorn my desk.
Also pictured: Mark Twain, Jon Pertwee, Patrick Star, and a few unmentionables.
I also just made some flat fish for, er, some reason. They’re purely decorative.
And that, combined with a desire to find a bigger project, gave me an idea. I started making more fish.
Then I formed them around a mold and a base. I applied vinegar, which makes clay stick to itself, gradually building up layers.
It’s a fish bowl. Get it?
I have no idea how this will ultimately turn out which is why I’m sharing the process with you now. Pottery tends to explode or fall apart or do other strange things and, as the saying goes, the journey is more important than the destination. So I’m sharing it now before the destination disintegrates.
CW!!!!! I love your damn fish!!!!
Aw shucks, yeah, I’ve thought about giving them away as prizes when I do one of those pop quizzes. Except my rule is: everybody plays, everybody wins. I should do that before my blog gets so popular I have to make more than a dozen fish.
Looks cool! Hope it turns out. Reminds me of a school of fish that the dolphins herd into a bait ball.
That’s exactly the effect I was going for–a school of fish swimming in a circle!
Oh yes – ALWAYS the journey! Well said. But the journey with the fish is looking GOOD!
And I Love that song too.
It’s ironic the fish are going in a circle given that I feel they’re really taking me somewhere.
It’s gorgeous–can’t wait to see how it will turn out. And now Mishima’s jealous and all like, “Why can’t you make pottery fish too, instead of fixing a damn grandfather clock for the shed outside?!”
I feel for Mishima, I really do, but he needs to understand there’s a big world outside his little bowl and you’ve only got time for so much.
Love your random “just because” fish. They remind me of a stained glass fish mobile I had when I was a kid.
You are making me really, really miss having access to a kiln. I might have to go hunting around for a studio so I can start throwing clay around again. Plus I’ve yet to have a piece explode on me and I feel like having something I made go *BOOM* is one of those things a person ought to accomplish before they die.
My pottery instructor suggested turning the fish into a wind chime and I thought about doing that but decided to make the first batch decorative–that “just because” thing again.
And I’ve had a couple of things explode in the kiln but I wasn’t around for it. I’m not sure a pottery explosion is all that satisfying anyway. A much better plan would be to make something, fill it with firecrackers, wrap it with primer cord then blow it up.
Kind of like the M*A*S*H episode where Hawkeye builds a Washington Monument out of tongue depressors and blows it up.
I actually did a wind chime once using star cutouts from a slab of clay I patterned using a piece of lace and a rolling pin. Came out pretty great, if I do say so myself. My parents still have it hanging in their back yard.
My uncle used to build incredibly detailed model ships only to blow them up with fireworks in the back alley. There’s a reason he’s my favorite.
I like the fish concept in your pottery….thanks…good luck
Thanks. I hope it turns out but the beauty of pottery is if it doesn’t work I can always start over and try again.
Looking forward to seeing the finished product! Love the fish in the second pic, are you using them as a wall decoration?
At the moment the fish in the second picture are just sitting in a box, along with some of my other pottery efforts waiting for a decision about their eventual fate. There’s a consignment store I know of that sells “weird stuff and cool things” and I’ve considered putting them there, if they’ll take ’em.
No need to fish for compliments, Chris. I am so impressed with your fishy talents that I might commission you to do a rendering of “Fish Committing Suicide” which is a fish floating above water, attached to a balloon.
The “Fish Committing Suicide” would be a fun commission and something I may have to try. It reminds me of a Far Side cartoon. Two fish are in a bowl on a table. On the floor is a fish skeleton. One of the fish in the bowl is saying, “Well I guess he made it. It’s been a week since he went over the wall.”
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That is really amazing!
I took the bait. Can’t wait to see the final product.
Oh, I’m afraid if you skip ahead a post or two you’ll see the final product. Spoiler alert: it didn’t turn out as nice as I hoped.
I was never any good at making sh… er I mean, STUFF with clay… my sister though, she’s slightly obsessed! Especially with pottery on a wheel! I tried that once and it was totally that scene in Ghost with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze, except The Naked Gun version.
That was pretty much my version too, but alone. Every time I sit down at the wheel I end up covered with clay. It’s very frustrating because a really good potter–like my instructor–makes it look so easy. But she also said it took her seven years of working at it daily to get that good.
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