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Saturday, November 07, 2009

Hands on Pottery

Yesterday I had a real good time in the South Indian Carnival @ southindies. And yeh I was there for a photo shoot :P Now don't ask me if I'm planning to change my profession. Not yet ;) The funny thing is when I showed my hand to the palmist, he mistook me as a professional photographer and was telling that my career line is very strong and so is the creative mount. So according to him the profession that I have chosen(photography) is very much apt for me. I was trying hard to suppress my laughter and didn't bother to correct him either :D

Anyway there were other fun things in the carnival and the one that caught my attention was the potter's wheel. I live very near to Pottery Town and have gone there a couple of times. I have always marveled at the way they transform a lump of mud to a beautiful art piece. Although I had enquired there about the classes they were not so keen to teach it to an outsider :( So you can imagine my excitement when I could really try my hands out at the wheel for the first time. But it wasn't as easy as it looked and the instructor was constantly reminding me that it needs lots of practice and I can't expect to master it in the first try. Anyway I am happy to have come out with something although with lot of imperfections. This is the final output.





Now that I'm at it I'll post some of my older works too. Of course the pots were made by the experts in pottery town. Only the designs on top of it is done by me.


The sunflower petals and leaves were made using ceramic powder and pasted to the pot using fevicol and later painted using acrylic colors.


If you are the lazy types like me, then this grape pot will work for you. Just roughen the surface of the pot using some white cement and then make the grape bunches by just rolling the ceramic paste to small balls. The tendrils n leaves can also be made easily. Then paste it using fevicol n paint. Your grape pot is ready :)

If you are even more lazier, but still would want to make something handmade, then walk around in pottery town, pick some pretty looking pots and just paint. Here are some samples.


I made this to give as a b'day gift to my neighbor aunty(who feeds me whenever I'm too lazy to cook), but felt it didn't come out well. So gave her something else and kept this with me.


This peacock pot was pretty but was looking very dull when I picked it up. So gave it a metallic shade of colors.


This wheel takes more time as the work is bit intricate but works very well if your mission is to take off your mind from some nagging thoughts :) The base is plywood and work is done using ceramic and then coated with metallic paint. Most people think it's real metal and ask me where I got it :P

For me, any type of arts and crafts is a craze not to mention that it's therapeutic. I like to experiment and try out new things except that I never stick to one thing. So please tell me your ideas and hobbies so that I can explore them.. Please please :)

21 comments:

Ravi Pandit said...

happened to stumble upon your blog after ages literally (thanks to FB). This is wonderful stuff, very beautiful indeed. With such talents, you sure do have an alternate career :-) and then yeah, maybe the fortune teller was predicting your future :-)

mathew said...

very impressive work!! i loved esp the one with the roots sticking to the pot! :-)

and sure palmist was no wrong..i would have said the same!;-P

Usha said...

wowiee!!! so that's where you've been yesterday!! :D I like!! I totally like.

And THAT is the product of your first attempt at pottery?! Wow girl! I'm impressed. :)

And thanks for posting those pics. Reminded me of the day I first went to your place, and was totally amazed by the 'fine arts museum' I found myself in..
ps: I think I missed out on that peacock one, though. It's prettty!

Oye, why are your paintings not here? And where are those coconut shell ones hiding? Post them, post them!!! :)

Jina said...

Athey.I think the palmist got it right.Ur beyond brilliant. Maybe u should start thinking about marketing it.U never know-U mite start the next fab india for arts!!;)

And I know the therapy.Im not as good as u r..But used to paint those chatti,kalam from pottery places.By any chance do u stay near benson town??

~mE said...

you live near pottery town !! i live in jaymahal We should meet :)

Dhanya said...

@ Ravi Pandit: Thanks for dropping by dude.. :) And as for the alternate career yeh might be needed with all the restructuring in NSN :P

@ mathew : Thanks Mathew :) I expected the palmist to atleast know that my actual carrer doesn't involve any creativity - just staring at the monitor is not creative for sure right? ;)

@ Usha : he he yeh that's my first pottery attempt. Ofcourse the instructer helped a lot. even then it's tilted slightly :(
And I posted only the pottery related ones here :)

@ Jina : Thanks Jina :) and marketing n me? You have no idea how lazy I am. Even to move from one room to another I fret :P So imagine what'll happen if I need to do the marketing? I don't mind if someone comes home n buys it though ;) High hopes na.. And post ur works too please..
And I stay in Frazer Town though I have stayed in a hostel in Benson Town before. Now don't tell me you were also in that hostel :P I got introduced to Usha like that :)

@ ~mE : On WOW so near. I stay in Coles Road in Frazer Town. We should surely meet. I had guessed that you stay near my place from some of your posts mentioning about Vasantnagar. So had thought you stay there :)

Unknown said...

Wow...indeed you have a good job, only to stare at a monitor...:-) lucky u...

Sini said...

kollalo!
iyal itra bhayankaraiyanennu njan arinjirunnilla. ;)

Anonymous said...

I was there at southindies too. Thanks for the pics. We had a good time and the pic would remind us of that in the years to come.
Talking of the palmist, he asked me if I am software engineer. I told him that I am doing my doctorate (I am doing my PhD in management). He misunderstood it and told Sir, this line is good for doctors u would be a good surgeon etc :)

sandeep said...

u havent lived half of ur life dhanya ... so, the palmist may be correct in assuming that u r a photographer ;-) u still have time to prove him right!

and yeah ... nice pics from the pottery session. u really made all these??? wonderful!

i was also expecting some pics from south indies :), especially since u mentioned that u went there for a photo shoot. where are the pics?

Jeseem said...

the palmist wasn't wrong
u r quite gifted

Sreejith Kumar said...

Good ones! My hobby may not sound interesting for you. Trying to get more info on the history of Tranvacore dynasty! :)

May be you can try out astrology... :)

Flyaway Mind said...

heyy..the paintings are just awesome!!! especially the grapes n the wheel..i have tried glass painting n pot painting but nothing like ceramic sculpting

Bindhu Unny said...

Excellent, Dhanya. The pots (first two) have come out well for a first-timer. And the designs on pots are superb too. I used to do similar work using a mixture of plaster of paris, cornflour, and fevicol. That was messy. Now Fevycryl hobby ideas have readymade resin and binder for the same purpose - very easy to use.
:)

Dhanya said...

@ Prasanna : Yeh exactly like you :P

@ Sini : ssho kashtaayeelloo.. idakkokke ee baagathoottum irangane :)

@ excitingjourney : wow this is a real surprise. Someone I met by accident to be visiting my blog :) Yeh I guess I overheard the surgery part by the palmist and I was thinking how he can say a person's profession from the lines. I thought probably you would have told him what you do. Now I know :)

@ sandeep : he he to make a hobby a proffesiion will take the fun away from it.. You can't be a professional n make silly mistakes. So it's better to keep profession n hobby seperate :)
n yeh I'll post south indies snaps soon :)

@ Jeseem : Thanks Jaseem :)

@ Sreejith Kumar : Wow that's an interesting hobby and quite innovative too. Unfortunatelu history n me doesn't go well right from school days ;) But yeh astrology I'm also interested. I do have some books on it :)

@ Flyaway Mind : Thank you :) yeh glass paining I also have attempted. n this ceramic thing is not so difficult tho lil messy. But you can use M-Seal also for ease of use :)

@ Bindhu Unny : Thanks Bindhu. Why don't you post your works too? even ceramic powder is lil messy. I didn't know abt the fevicryl things. I was thinking of M-Seal which is less messier :)

Bhaimi said...

2 years oru class-il padichittum ithonnum njan arinje illa :(

Anonymous said...

Wow, you are really talented, and its looks really fab ;)..even i love to make all sorts of crafts, esp of ceramic, and also making all sorts of flowers, and paper craft too, esp origami :)

cm chap said...

wow... Excellent... Impressive... Awesome.... Im stunned by your talent :)

For a moment, I feel like Im wasting my life.... hats off Dhanya.

Only thng I do is lil bit of Photography...that too with PoS.

Dhanya said...

Wow! Wow! Wow! This is just beautiful...

If my mom saw this, she will disown me for sure... :| She's into art n craft as well and has done some similar work on pots too! :D

Mishmash ! said...

u re so good at this!!!! so creative!! and I loved the last one....enikku gift aayittu ethu mathee :P

and i always wanted to try pottery wheel.....and at times, imperfection becomes a perfect piece of beauty :)

Dhanya said...

@ Bhaimi : eethaa ariyaanje? :P

@ Bliss : Thank you :) I have also made flowers with paper and cloth, but it gets dusty too soon :( Why don't u post ur crafts n tell how to do it?

@ CM-Chap : Hey it's not rocket science yaar.. Anyone can do it..Just need some patience.. that's all :) n photography is my fav area too n I also had a PoS all these while :)

@ Dhanya : There is no way ur mom could disown such a cutie pie like u ;) Think I should get in tough with ur mom to know abt her works :)

@ Mishmash! : Thank you Thank you :) I'll surely gift the wheel for you provided you feed me all those yummy dishes that you make.. Deal? :)