The trouble with plates is they are sooooo much work! They are easy to throw and fairly easy to trim if you take the time to make a chuck (basically a small disk of wet clay with a towel on top to keep the plate from collapsing while trimming.) But that is just the beginning. If you take a look at the photo's below you can see what is happening to the plates I have been making. Warp city! fine for my own house but not good enough for a special order. 

finished and glazed plate

raw clay plate with porcelain slip in the center

back of finished plate

back of raw clay plate

So......I did some recalculating today and made plate with a larger open area for food and a smaller rim. I believe this will alleviate any more warping. This Vashon Red clay from Seattle Pottery supply is great for throwing and fires to a beautiful dark red in the electric kiln but when it comes to having the clay hold itself up as I'm asking it to do....it fails. Good to know. I threw 4 new plates today after re-calculating....take a look.

 

 

 

 

before slip decoration

Smaller rim should hold up better. Plate still looks nice although I did like the larger rim. I will post more about these plates later. Class went well this morning. It was week two of throwing and despite the snow we had a full house.

view form the back deck

Front door.

Here are a few things the new batch of students are making.....

Hard at work.

Not bad for a first timer!

I also had time to do some work around the studio. Insulating the water lines (always good to wait until the last minute!) , insulating some cracks here and there on the building, and spreading some salt to melt the ice near the doors.
Lastly my son and I were driving to the studio yesterday and the swans were on the lake in front of our house so we took a picture from the road. Man what a difference one day makes. Today the lake is frozen over and covered with snow drifts! 

Trumpeter swans on Hummel Lake.