18 posts tagged “pottery”
These were done in a chocolatey glaze. They're up for sale if you're interested!
*resumes position on couch*
This one stays at home.
In an attempt to free up my personal shelves to make way for pieces that are finally starting to take on some serious size and girth, I've put the last of the little items I can bear to part with, on Etsy. I'm finally digging into some orders as well, and have quite a few items on the shelf waiting to be glaze fired.
Onward and upward.
One of the hardest, and most basic things to do in wheel thrown pottery, is centering a ball of clay on the wheel. Watching others do it, it seems so simple...but when trying to give or receive instruction on how to do it, you begin to understand how intuitive the process truly is.
I think life is very much like centering that ball of clay on the wheel. I remember when I was first learning, I watched my instructor quickly cut off 2 lbs of clay from her block, weld it to remove any air pockets and to evenly distribute the moisture through her piece and then beat it into a basic cone shape. She took the cone, slapped it on the wheel and in what felt like seconds, moved and guided it to position, centered perfectly.
All very simple to do until I took the clay in my own hands and tried to repeat the action. It was a lesson in gravity, centrifugal force and pressure. Slap a piece of clay on the center of a wheel, and put that wheel in motion, it becomes a battle of wills. The clay wills itself absolutely anywhere the rhythm of the wheel and it's speed pull it. It's up to you to reign it in and guide it to perfect center. The magical element of it, is once a piece is centered perfectly, it stills. Even at incredible wheel speed, it remains locked and poised and cradled unmoving in the palm of your hand. You feel it, the instant it happens. No wobbling, no pulling, no bumping or leaning.
It's one of the hardest things to teach, because so much of centering relies on the hands, positioning and pressure from the body guiding the clay. I'm left handed. My instructor is right handed. Her hand positions, even to this day, are slightly different than mine. Her technique, while perfect for her, felt foreign to me. As we wrestled with technique and form, she finally reminded me that I would need to find the position most comfortable and right for me. And she said I'd know it immediately because the clay would respond and snap immediately into place. Like magic.
I learned to love centering clay as an exercise. And there are still some days in the studio where it will be the hardest thing for me to do. The moment I start overthinking it, I struggle. The moment I get lax in my own hand positioning, or pressure, the clay wobbles and flails heavily against me.
Don't let the clay work you, you work the clay.
It's what I remind myself when I feel three pounds of clay throw my arms and chest about as the wheel spins. I lock in, find my position and hold it, until the clay concedes. It always concedes. Each time that happens, it is a personal triumph to me. It's a gentle reminder that life is very much the same process. Finding the approach, the technique, the pressure, the patience and the faith. Knowing the best approach to life's challenges. Practicing the technique that feels most comfortable and natural to you, applying the appropriate pressure with the patience to know it may take a moment...with the faith to know that if all those keys are in place, your existence has no choice but to concede. Even with bumps. Even with air pockets, even with lumps. It will eventually, concede.
As with anything, you are lost if you are unable to intuit your way through the exercise. No one can teach you that, but at least you know you have it to rely on if you have the wisdom to acknowledge it.
I suppose that's why I love pottery the way I do. It brings me back to fundamental basics. It reminds me that somethings are very basic. It's our approach that determines the outcome. In the studio, I am able to pick up some pieces and make sense of them not so much with logic, but in just feeling my way through the process.
After two days a swirl with vertigo, I'm back. It's a little early in the season for me to be "spinning" but I suspect it has had something to do with the weather spike up to the eighties in the Austin area. My vertigo is subjective and objective, which means the world not only feels like it's spinning, but it looks like it too. A big pinwheel in front of my eyes.
And I was in the supermarket when it hit, which is my biggest phobia, getting hit with it in a public place. You know, as much as I fear that embarrassment, I must say, people are truly kind. If you get these enough you should be able to sense when a spin cometh, and I blame myself for not heeding the symptoms that were trying to hint to me that my balance was about to talk a hiatus for colder climates.
But I'm back in the world of right side up, but steering clear of driving or anything even remotely linked to moving vehicles until I know all is absolutely well in this large bulbous cranium of mine.
In other news, I posted some small items on my Etsy that have been collecting on my shelf. I'm working with a different clay body and trying to get the hang of it, should be posting some of those items in a few weeks. I have some items I need to finish for some friends, so we are slowly back in business.
Items currently up for sale on Etsy. As you might have guessed, I've fallen in love with bowls.
Some of these will stay with me...not sure which ones just yet.
Peeking in on a busy Monday to say the following:
1. I do not want to discuss the odious performance of my hometown Birds last night.
2. I REALLY do not want to discuss the odious performance of my hometown Birds last night.
3. My neighbor just put in an order for some bowls to fill with candy and giveaway to her coworkers. Suhweet!
4. I posted some more items on Etsy. Thanks to all my Voxian friends and family that were kind enough to add a little bit of my work to their homes. I'm getting steadily happy with the items I'm getting back, your encouragement always warms my heart.
5. Someone needs to inform Mecca of the time change. I do not appreciate the wake up call at 6am instead of 7am.
6. I cannot get the song "King of Pain" out of my head.
7. Nanowrimo is rolling, but if they don't get that site stable enough so that it doesn't feel like it's running on rechargeable double "A" batteries...I'm gonna start slapping. Don't even click that link, your computer may die.
Okay, so here's the latest two things fresh out the kiln. One it posted for purchase, the other remains safely tucked in my cabinets. It must stay with me.
You don't even want to know what sort of anxiety inducing terror has swarmed in me about doing this. I am nearly crying laughing at myself, as I post a few pieces to the Etsy board for sale. I'm new at this. Be gentle with me. I argued aggressively with one of my best friends about everything from pricing, to descriptions.
I am exhausted. If I survive the remainder of this week and manage to sell a thing, I will post more this weekend.
Ack.
*RPM stumbles, falls to the floor and prays for bacon to fall from the sky*
You may shop here.
These are the items currently up for sale.
Okay. Good news (if you care)...
I made some more stuff. And, I'm actually getting to the point where I do NOT want to retch when I get them from the kiln. Better news? I created my etsy page. I'll be posting some items later this week. Weeee! In other news, I'll be working on a shecret (yesh, I shaid shecret) project that I'm hoping to be able to share in January. For now, there's only a sprinkle of people who know...and I'm keeping it that way, because I like shurprises. (I was readhing Mutt's over the weekend. Pleashe excuse my lishp)
Here's the latest batch.
