(no subject)

[danuv]

Pottery class last night was rough. Previous sessions all involved throwing with the soft clay, our hands and the wheel. Last night we practiced shaping the bottoms of our somewhat dried pots which involved centering them upside down on the wheel and working them with tools. The first two bowls went fine. I replicated the teacher's movements as best I could and made passably decent feet. The next piece I picked up was a teeny pot. I'd already had more trouble centering the smaller pieces when I was making them and this issue seemed to continue for this step. It took me forever to get it done and then when I started to try and trim it the piece kept popping off and then I'd have to recenter it again. My foot ended out way off center and was just bad bad. They all tried to convince me that it gave the pot a cute 60's feel but UGH. After that it was just downhill. I just got more tense and frustrated. On my last bowl, one I had a very particular vision for, I got the foot centered fine but when I went to cut the center part out I made a horrible uneven mess of it.

I'm going to watch some youtube videos and next week go in calmer and ready to deal with the two tiny pots I still need to finish (*whimper*) and then we glaze.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/idlewild_/]

Ahh... I hate that building sense of frustration. Sometimes you just have to call it and walk away. Pottery seems to be one of those things where you just have to throw a lot to get as good as you want to be, but it really does sound like you're doing well at the stage you're at, frustration notwithstanding.

Glazing always looked tremendously fun!

[danuv.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it is mostly a practice thing though watching someone do it a few more times would probably also help. I am looking forward to the glazing but what I really want to do is make more pots... bigger ones. :D

[http://users.livejournal.com/idlewild_/]

Hooray for big pots!!