Saturday, July 15, 2017

Ice Crystals are Beautiful, Also Unwanted

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_____________________________________Ice Crystals are beautiful, as I found out this morning when I ventured out into the garage.

Jack Frost had let his presence known with a white layer of crystals over almost everything outside.


Not too welcome was the partially unassembled oval pots that I'd forgotten to bring inside last night.  Yes, it felt like there was going to be a frost, but didn't imagine it would be that hard.


After getting over the initial "Bugger" when I saw them, I was in awe of the intricate patterns the freezing water had made on the slab and around the oval sides.

    Just beautiful.
 Almost looks like a snowy landscape of mountains and trees if you stretch your imagination.
    Unfortunately these will have to go in the recycling bucket    as the water crystals have cracked and weakened the clay.
There are some potters who will put their pots back on the wheel and compress/smooth down the sides.  I tried this a few years ago and wasnt at all sucessfull.  Once the clay is weakened its not worth the effort to continue, always start again, especially with larger vessels. Making up a new slab base is easy enough.
The side of this oval was smooth yesterday, look how the expanding water has roughened it up. I may just wait until Sunday or Monday when they're forecasting a bit of rain and cloud.
Bonsai Pot making can be quite challenging during the winter!