Crafting a Perfect Pitcher: Shaping, Smoothing, and Decorating

Now that our pitcher has set up some more, it’s time to cut away the extra clay at the lip. I like these pitchers to have a really intense pour spout, and the easiest way to do that is throw it as a vase and then cut away the extra. So that’s what we’ve done here. I’ve used a pencil to kind of draw the line and then a knife to just cut them away. And then I re softened the top of this with a little bit of water. And really smoothed over the lip and kind of worked down the pitcher to make sure all of it was shaped exactly the way I want. When you alter something fresh off the wheel, it’s often a little floppy. And I find that at the leather hard stage, I have to go back in and do a lot of little, tiny, fiddly things to make it look exactly the way I want. This is also the stage where I’ll attach the handle. I will score and slip it into place and make sure it is lined up perfectly with the pour spout so that the pitcher will pour nicely. Once it’s finished, I’ll go over the picture one last time and make sure there’s nothing else I want to alter. And if there is, I’ll do so, because after this point, it will be too dry. The next stage is the surface decoration, and I’m so excited to get to Paint these bright orange