Wax On – Wax Off
New Squared Mugs
Err, um…ahem, I seem to be having some issues – not the personal sort either, though I do have a few of those as well. But, this post is not about THOSE kinds of issues, although if I wax poetic all scholarly like, both could be related.
I find that I’m really rusty and out of practice as I begin the process of becoming reacquainted with clay. This is not a happy state of being for me since I want to exit the shoot hootin’ and a hollerin’ whipping out pottery left and right, filling my shelves to capacity with fluid ease. Instead, I’m ending up with some wonky ware with ugly handles. Sure, I’d love to just write about my success stories and make it look as though I live in pottery nirvana, but it doesn’t always work like that.
Anyone seen the new Karate Kid movie – or remember the original? I’ve decided that I need my own “wax on, wax off” (original) or “jacket off, jacket on the peg, drop jacket, jacket on” (new) kind of moment. Muscle memory is important when it comes to many different physical tasks including crafting pottery efficiently and with as little frustration possible.
I think I need to devote a day (or at least a couple 25 pound bags of clay) to repetitively throwing the same object/shape on the wheel till they begin to look fairly uniform. Then, I want to use the same approach to pulling handles, ‘cuz frankly mine stink! Maybe then I’ll have my aha moment…similar to Daniel san and I can stop fighting the clay. In all honesty, I should recycle the mugs in the photo above – they’re not worth keeping. It’s a good lesson to learn that everything we make is not precious and should be returned to the state from whence it began.
AND – really, square mugs? Not really practical when I think about the mechanics of drinking.
