Delayed
Bags-o-clay
I swung by the guild on Monday to clean. It is a bit cruel that I haven’t been taking advantage of the guild’s studio space, yet since we’re a co-op, I’m still required to clean about every 4 months or so. I know – who’s fault is that? No need to rub it in. Anyway…while I was there, another member was using the electric slab roller (what a luxury) to create slabs to take home where she is going to work at her leisure. She had quite the system in place, boards, plastic wrap, etc. etc. and it got me thinking about whether I might like to do the same. I love hand building, and have hand rolled my slabs in the past – something I actually enjoy doing. At any rate, I decided not to use the electric slab roller, but I did bring home yet another 25# bag of clay – this time a white ^10 stoneware called “Dover” which is now sitting unopened next to the bag of ^6 porcelain. I might as well start working at ^10 for some work since the guild has 2 large gas car kilns.
I do have a plan. It’s just taken me awhile to arrive at a course of action. Making a decision is probably my weakest skill – I tend to deliberate and then deliberate my deliberations before I can move forward. Once I make a decision, I rarely look back. So here’s my dilemma – I need a fairly unobtrusive, comfortable and convenient place to work. Last weekend, my husband asked me when I was finally going to open the clay I brought home a couple of weeks ago, and I mentioned using the laundry room in the basement as a quasi temporary/permanent space where I can leave work in progress out and to work during the winter months. It’s warm, has running water, has shelving, counter space and it’s not precious, so it won’t matter if I get clay on the floor/walls etc. I think I might even bring my wheel inside which is going to require a little extra muscle power.
The laundry room isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s a start. I had planned to get it all set up yesterday and then…I got a small job offer that I couldn’t refuse. I’m updating/adding content to a WordPress website this week. Who would have thought that by teaching myself how to use and customize WordPress for my website out of financial necessity a few years ago, that I could actually earn a little extra income on the side? So, clay is going to have to wait for the weekend. But, I had better not wait too long – my last semester of school starts on Tuesday.
I’m Borrredddd!
I guess that means that it’s time for me to go back to school. It’s been a good break, albeit a bit long and I still didn’t get everything accomplished that I wanted to in the past 5 weeks. My break has been punctuated by family visits, holidays, fun and then in the last week, the national news that pretty much consumed me as I scoured the internet for any and all information. I hate to be a pessimist, but the past week left me feeling a bit hopeless and drained. I suppose like many people, I needed time to digest everything and regroup. AND, regroup is what I’ve done because ultimately, I have faith in the human spirit.
Ginny Cash – Covered Jar
In between spending too much time online and being a lady of leisure, I have slowly continued to de-clutter and organize our house as we prepare to potentially move across town this summer between semesters – I do miss my former studio and look forward to inhabiting it once again. Thanks to my recent online dalliances and boredom, I retook the Myers-Brigg Personality Test for kicks and giggles. Actually, I retake this test every so often in an attempt to see if the results will change – they don’t. I’ve been an ENFP ever since I first took this test in my youth. I’d say it’s a fairly accurate – I’m an idealist and a people person which made the news out of Arizona last weekend very traumatic. I have such a hard time understanding why things like this happen – and don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive, just sensitive.
I finally cut myself off from all news and focused on the tasks I needed to complete before beginning my 4th semester of grad school, which begins tomorrow. News overload just isn’t healthy….
Meanwhile, on my to-do list this winter break is to update the Colorado Potters Guild website with photographs of work taken before our fall show. I began editing the photographs this morning and several caught my eye, including Ginny Cash’s covered jar above and Sarah Christensen’s covered jar below. Nothing like looking at beautiful handmade pottery to make me feel better!
Sarah Christensen – Covered Jar
Finally, I think I learned something about myself. I’m the type of person who can get a heck of a lot done when I’m busy. Sitting around, being lazy does nothing for me and in turn makes me even more lethargic – such a vicious cycle. Have a good week everyone!
Bodies – Clay That Is…
A small sampling of clay stacked in the damp room of the Colorado Potters Guild
Last Monday, I had a decision to make and let’s just say that decisions are not made lightly by me and I had to call in back up. I had no clay – well, actually I have a lot of clay, but most of it needs to be reconstituted/reconditioned/recycled/whatever after over wintering in my garagio. What’s a girl to to do? I called in a life line…only she wasn’t in when I made the desperate call. So I marched back to the damp room of the Colorado Potters Guild, pulled up my big girl panties and confidently pulled out a 25# bag of P60 (^10 porcelain) determined that I was going to throw me some porcelain just like old times.
Handbuilt Platter by Kathleen Laurie
Luckily while I was dinking around the guild, looking for my shelves and gathering tools, my girlfriend, Kathleen called me back and talked me off the ledge. I hadn’t yet opened the P60 and calmly returned the bag to the damp room and replaced it with a bag of Dover (^10 white stoneware) after Kathleen kindly relayed how forgiving Dover clay is in contrast to the P60 – clearly she was trying to spare me from failure & a hurt ego after tenderly reaching out to the medium again. BTW, both the P60 and Dover clays are manufactured by Mile Hi Ceramics in Denver and Dover’s price tag is a bit friendlier too which is always a happy thing.
I should back track and explain my clay conundrum by telling you that I have mostly worked with ^6 clays and historically have fired my work in my own studio in previous years. So, choosing a new clay body with a different firing temperature is a bit daunting. I have to say that I really like Dover – it’s smooth, but not quite like porcelain. There’s still a bit of grog, but barely noticeable and the clay seems to hold up against abuse very well. I’m still practicing throwing and when I head into the guild tomorrow I’m going to try hand building again – my favorite pastime.
If choosing a clay body is difficult, wait till I get around to glazing…the choices at the guild are fantastic and I’ll be like a kid in a candy shop, paralyzed by the endless combinations of available delicacies.
Guess What Ma?
No hands…just kidding.
I Can Still Center
And Throw
Although it did take me forever to select a clay body, wedge, collect my tools, a wheel and finally settle down to attempt to throw something – anything on Monday morning’s visit to the Colorado Potters Guild.
I decided to start with a bowl shape since it is fairly straight forward – and I wanted go easy on myself. No major expectations…just the desire to sit down at the wheel and throw some clay. I messed around with my first bowl for way too long and eventually it slumped into a big gob of gook. But, it felt so good to get back into clay and to just make time to do whatever it is that I wanted – with no pressure.
Did you know that potters use muscles that others might not? I can say this confidently because there are muscles on my back and arms that are sore from my mere 3 hours in the studio after a long absence. My wrists and forearms feel better though after suffering through a bit of carpal tunnel from intensive computer use the past 2 semesters in school. Must be the simple act of using them differently….
I will not likely return to the studio full time, but I do hope to find some balance between life, school and the studio the next couple of years I anticipate that it will take to earn a degree in landscape architecture.
Any tips on achieving and maintaining balance?
