Class Challenge - Nature Pots

This semester, we have a class challenge project. We were given this:

and we were supposed to make a pot using this as a theme. The leaf can be incorporated into the pot in any way. It could be a handle, a lid, a foot. It could be a plate, a bowl, a mug. It could be made into a surface decoration. Anything.

I brainstormed a little. Initially I wanted to try handbuilding a pot with multiple curled leaves. But it turned out much harder than I thought - the edges of the clay dried up too fast, and I couldn't make the individual leaves fast enough. By the time I finished making the leaves, the edges were too brittle and weak to "glue" together. Hence, I had to abandon the idea.

I decided to stick to what I am familiar with -- throwing on the wheel. Sigh, so unadventurous ya... But handbuilding is really much much harder than it looks. Not to mention that a lot of planning has to be involved. No doubt throwing also requires planning, but I find that I enjoy going with the flow of the clay.

And that was what I did, and this was what I got:

Nice and round, with a little rib action on the lip of the pot. And of course I had to somehow incorporate the leaf idea into the pot. I found a neat leaf pattern on the Internet, and decided to use it on this pot. Spent an afternoon carving it out... Having the clay at the right stage of dryness really speeds up the carving process.

It is being bisque fired now. Next step is glazing. I am torn between glazing it in green (for green leaves in summer) or brown (for crunchy brown leaves in autumn). If I choose brown, I will definitely use nutmeg, because carved patterns show up pretty well with nutmeg. As for green, I may pick pine green. But pine green tends to give unexpected streaks across the pot.... Hmmm, I will think about it.