Evan Dresel on mon 24 nov 97
One Christmas when I was in school I decided it was time to replace my
parent's turkey platter. I don't know what was keeping their old one
together, but it was many years past honorable retirement. Rolled out a
good thick rectangle of clay and let it set up in some canvas loosely draped
in a frame to give a nice curve up to the corners. When it was leather
hard, somehow managed to flip it over and attach a rectangular slab foot
which managed to stay attached through the firing. Eileen decorated the
inside with coloured slip branches and leaves. The not very clear glaze gave
it a sort of dried weeds in winter look -- she did a super job. The cone 10
firing made it slump just enough to soften the shape. The sucker had some
heft to it even without the massive bird my father loved to cook up but I
was pleased.
We packed the thing as best we could for the plane trip to Halifax but
didn't know all the tricks, realized we couldn't take it as cary on and
entrusted it to the not too gentle hands of US Air and Air Canada. Somehow
they managed to put a good 15 cm crack in it without seeming to hurt it's
structural integrity.
Well, my father was a pharmacologist so I bought a tube of china cement and
went to see Dad at his lab. Said, "Dad, I need a syringe and hypodermic
needle but don't ask why."
You know it's a really nice thing when you realize your parents trust you.
I glued the thing up and wrapped it on Chrismas Eve and used it the next
afternoon.
Maybe that's not the best way to make a pot -- I guess that's what makes me
an amateur.
-- Evan planning something vegetarian for this too close to Christmas
Thanksgiving
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