Posted a bunch of vases on Etsy. It’s been my latest focus, solitary, basic vases with some hand carving to personalize them and give each of them a unique personality.
I think one of my favorite glazes lately has been this one. A millring green that oxidizes metallic gray over any breaking points. I’ve seen some fun stuff done with it and I look forward to playing around with it more.
Happy Halloween!
I think I’ve turned a corner and I’m really liking where this is going.
I brought home a bunch of new items today from the studio, I’ll be bringing home some more later this week. One of the lessons I think I’m learning…keep the glazes simple. Sometimes I try to do jazzy things with glazes and I think it takes away from the overall piece.
I’m going to focus more on etching, and then letting the glazes work simply to support the piece. I think I managed that with this mug and bowl set…and I think I’m going to stick with it.
The month of August was a bear. This summer marks the anniversary of the longest most agonizing year of my life that I can recall.
Sometimes I feel guilty for saying that. I feel guilty for marking this past year as so tough when I’ve gone through previous years that have included personal loss, passing family members and other life altering events that within the moment felt insurmountable. But that’s the point I think, the guilt reminds me that every time I think I won’t survive, I do. Every time those dark days come, light always follows. We are adaptable in that way. We heal. We always heal.
So many things in my life are not as I hoped they would be. But I’m learning as with most things, there is no point in hurrying.
Harried efforts are almost always regrettable. Pottery is a constant reminder of this. So many things to think about all at once. Hand position, water, tools, form, function, symmetry. You can’t process a thing else. You are all at once completely engaged but completely relaxed. You trust yourself, and you create. Everything else, can wait. Everything is a process. Even us. All things in their own time.
And we’re all the better for it.
When I took my first pottery class in May of 2007 I was eager to dig into a craft that had been calling to me quietly since I was a child. While I am still very much a beginner, its become a hobby I simply can’t live without. While I’ve been blogging for a little over six years in different spaces about everything and nothing, most of my content has been personal, professional, political or social.
Here, in this space, its all about the clay and what thoughts stem from my time in the quiet of the studio. There may be cross posts, but probably not often.
As I’ve learned techniques aligned with wheel throwing, glazing, firing and finishing, I’ve consistently been amazed at how there are so many life lessons to be learned in any artistic endeavor. Patience. Restraint. Trust. Purpose. Vision. Focus. Perserverance. Instruction. You learn from your failures as much as you do your achievements, possibly more.
Pottery & Pondering will be my online studio. The place where I share my work and the thoughts inspired in the making. As with any of my ramblings or expression or life itself, I look forward to the journey. You will find a gallery of my work (the good, the bad and the ugly), my various notes to self regarding wheel throwing and glazing and more often than not, my own food for thought. If any of that interests you, then I am very glad you are here.
