Relapse

This week I have been suffering from a relapse of big pot fever. A friend had asked if I could duplicate a planter that had been in the family for many years and I agreed. It wasn't that great a pot but it weighed about 40 pounds. After checking it our, I thought I could do it with 25 pounds. Now, I could have done it in sections but it was 15 inches wide and it just seemed simpler to throw it in one piece. I had never thrown a 25 pound ball of clay before but nothing ventured nothing gained, fools rush in ...etc. Actually, once I stopped trying to muscle it into submission, it was not as hard to center as I expected. I opened it up and started pulling up the walls. Just as I was going for that last inch, I lost control and the top of the pot started to flare too much to choke back in, What to do, What to do? This clay obviously wanted to be a bowl instead and so it became one. At 22" it is just small enough to fit in the kiln. Trimming was another issue. To keep weight off the rim, I used a foam bat with a big chunk of mattress foam on it so the bowl was supported from the inside and it worked great. I did get the planter thrown on my next try. No pictures of it yet but I will try to get one after it is fired.