trial, failure, and the results start coming

Where do I begin? It is so so difficult to get back in the swing of things when you think you already should be in the swing of things. (Reality, check) It is especially daunting when you diverge slightly from your pre-established swing.
I have been trying with all my might to make a piece that continues to fail. Multiple attempts and from different design perspectives (but not different enough)
So I made a compromise with myself... Do 3/4 what you know and 1/4 new...
In reality I am going a bit more in the new direction, because the mold is new too.

The mold is the belly of an orange street cone.

The clay, once again, is mid-range porcelain paper clay.

The Goal: merge my vision of a ladder dress with a ruffled obsession.

The first cone mold had a pesky undercut that got in the way of removing the form. I cut the ladder to give the structure a little more movement, held my breath and pried it off.

I love Paper Clay!

Now that it is off I am fully committed to a successful outcome. And to avoid that problem I found a cone without undercuts.

I got my first round of glazed high- fire pieces out of the kiln. The trays did not make it in that firing, but they come out tomorrow so well see them soon.
I am excited about the results of this batch and can't wait to see the next batch.


I will post those tomorrow.