Twisty Vase Revisited

I saw some friends in Washington not too long ago who are posted overseas. One of them was nice enough to ask if she could have a "twisty vase," so I set about trying to make another one. The first was an absolute disaster. I cut it slightly too small for the cylinder I was using as a mold, so my friend helped me push it together, since the clay was extra thick due to a suggestion by my hand-building teacher (though I didn't want it thicker, I find it hard to disagree with someone who has decades of experience). To prep the cylinder so that clay wouldn't stick, I had wrapped it in newspaper. Well, we didn't notice that as we pushed the edges together, we wedged newspaper in the seam. When I tried to carefully pull it apart to try again, the whole thing collapsed, helping me to realize I hadn't dried the slab long enough.

So, next time, I rolled the slab to my preferred thickness and let it dry until I thought it was stronger. This time, I tried twisting right away, without reinforcing the seam. Bad idea. The whole thing came apart and because it was more dry than previously, it didn't want to be stuck together again. Again, the whole thing came apart and I threw it away.

Third time is, indeed a charm. I rolled the slab to my preferred thickness. I dried it until I could test it's willingness to stand by bending up a corner and seeing if it would stay. I cut it to the right size, and properly beveled the edges this time so that they overlapped well. I took the mold out and reinforced the seam with coils, and reinforced the bottom with coils also. Then, I put the mold back in the vase in order to twist it. It came apart several times, but a little at a time, and I had enough reinforcements that I could pull more clay over the cracks. I then worked more clay over the seam with a scraper and slip.





However, this time the bottom twisted too. I don't remember if I didn't add the bottom until after twisting. That seems unlikely, because it would be harder to attach after twisting, but I could have done it. One of my friends, whose work is amazing, said she liked the twisty bottom, so I decided to keep it.



It is under plastic, drying slowly. We'll see if this one cracks as it dries. Twisty vases are harder than I think they're going to be every time.