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.
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?
Working away and pimping my Facebook profile
Anti-fatigue mat for standing and throwing
On Friday, I drove to the hardware store because I was out of mapp gas for my torch and while I was there, I decided to pick up an anti-fatigue mat for my new wheel set up since I’m pretty sure, I’ll never sit down to throw again. The mat is cushy and much more gentle on my legs than bare concrete, but it has that noxious rubber/new carpet smell that makes me nauseous. Anyone know how to get rid of that smell?
On a side note, I was very sad to pull into my favorite mom and pop hardware store that’s been in Denver forever. The doors were shuttered and a sign read “Out of Business”. Instead of being able to run in and out of the store fast, I headed over to Home Depot to find what I needed and wandered aimlessly until I found what I needed.
Wheel thrown porcelain orb vases
This is one of my favorite forms to make. I’m not sure how practical they are, but I like them. I’m trying to figure out how to finish and glaze these after I bisque fire them.
The cool thing about my recent studio push is that a ton of new ideas are popping into my head every day. Making stuff is giving me ideas which makes me think that when I’m having one of those uninspired moments, I just need to do something in the studio – anything. I need to sketch/write some of these ideas in my notebookso that I can explore some of them after the sale ends. Today and tomorrow are really my last day to make work for the Colorado Potters Fall Sale opening in 2 weeks. Today, I’m going to make some butter dishes and tomorrow, I plan on making some ornaments. I figure the ornaments will dry pretty fast.
Hand built and wheel thrown vases with different necks and two in progress
I’ve also been playing around with different thrown necks for the slab built vase bases. I kind of like how no two are alike. Do you ever make stupid mistakes in the heat of making work for a show? I did that on Saturday and I swear, I almost cried and was cussing like a sailor at my carelessness.
2 slab built vase bases and 4 wheel thrown necks hit the deck – err make that concrete floor
Shelving is at a premium right now and I had placed a ware board with 2 vase bases and about 3 wheel thrown necks on an unstable surface…topple, crash, bang, boom. Lesson learned. If I’m going to take the time to make the work, I need to be conscientious of where I place it.
Work is drying everywhere
I think it’s time for me to fire a load of bisque and to start glazing so I can free up some room. My shelves are full and there’s no extra space for work. Consequently, I’m getting creative. If you look closely, that is indeed a margarita sitting on the drywall board. The drink was courtesy of my husband and was his way of saying, “time to quit for the day.” 
Meanwhile, I’ve been having a lot of fun playing around with Facebook. If you’re on FB, look me up. I’ve found a ton of old high school classmates and continue to add clay people to my “friends”. I even chatted with someone from Turkey the other day.
I also have a ton of blog posts lined up – too much to say, so little time. I actually sat down at the computer around 9 pm last night intending to write this post, but I didn’t have the energy to write.
That’s it for today,
~Cynthia
