Crafting Update 2: Yarn Bombing and my Glazed & Fired Knitting Bowl

Good morning, peeps! It's 5:30 am here in this little island called Singapore, and it's our National Day today! (And while I'm typing this, I'm hearing this weird squeak-chirps outside my front door...)

But anyways, back to my crafting updates in July.. So while I was busy with the washi tape wristlets, I managed to sneak a few hours into my schedule to do some yarn bombing at Senja-Cashew Community Centre, in conjunction with the Singapore Mini Maker Faire that was held there.

Sewn this portion of squares together!

The yarn bombed pillar. Borrowed this photo from Yarn Bombing Singapore~

My friend and I also went back for the 2nd session of our ceramic class to do our sanding and glazing. Sanding the bisque-fired piece was pretty much straight-forward, albeit messy.

Glazing, however, was a different story. We were given the choices to dip or paint. After a little consultation with Mr. Chew, I opted to paint due to the gradation effect that I wanted. My friend decided to do the dipping process. Since we're newbies and had no prior experience, it was hard to get our bowls evenly covered, especially for me who was slabbing the glazes on with a small brush (quite pathetically, if I must say so..). At the end of the glazing session, I was kinda crossing my fingers, hoping that everything would turn out okay after firing.

I wasn't expecting anything great, but I was really surprised to see the outcome when I went to collect the fired pieces last week!

My piece might not have the smoothest glazing, but I do love the colors and the water color effect a lot!

What I Have Been Up to Part 1: Ceramic Knitting Bowl WIP

More than a week ago, my friend and I signed up for a 2-session "Clay Gift" class at Clay Street, a local ceramic clay school.

I went to the class, with some great ideas in my head revolving around some accessory pieces (I actually penned them down on a torn page from my Ideas book and brought it there..). Boy was I kinda bumped when Mr Chew, our teacher, recommended making bowls or mugs instead.

My slight disappointment quickly dissipated when I actually got hooked to the manual potter's wheel. We were taught the pinch and coil method together with using the potter's wheel and tools to shape and smooth our clay piece. Aside from the occasional clueless "what am I supposed to do?" moments, I was pretty much into Zen mode (or perhaps it's just the hypnotic spinning wheel at work..)

After some finishing touches done so effortlessly by Mr. Chew, I suddenly had a eureka moment. I don't need a normal bowl, but a knitting bowl is something I have been wisting for a long time! With a bit of guidance from Mr. Chew, I managed to "puncture" a hole into my bowl with this "arrow-like" scalpel the fettling knife when the clay was in leather-hard stage.

On top of that, I managed to add 2 clay buttons and 1 round clay blank to my entourage of clay pieces. I was one really happy camper!

I should have turned the "holed" side to the front...

Our pieces are currently in the process of slow drying (not sure if they'll go for their first bisque firing..). Still waiting for the follow-up call from Mr. Chew so we can go down for our second session when we'll be doing the (sanding?), glazing and final firing. Can't wait!