I was chatting with a couple of artists in the pottery studio last night and we were all fan-girling about pottery and why we love the process.
1. Wet clay – smoosh, bend, spin, squeeze, pull , poke, roll, seal and smooth… the tactile sensations are positively therapeutic.
2. Drying time – will it crack? Warp? What will be, will be, so let’s start something new while we wait. With clay you make while you wait, so there’s always something to do and something to look forward to!
3. Leatherhard – scratch, smooth, sand… it’s all about surface quality.
4. Bisque – First foray into the fires of hell… j/k, well kind of. Your baby is in there hopefully baking to perfection, but it could explode… or the thing next to it might and break yours along with it. It feels like gambling (in the best way possible).
5. Glaze – Whether you dip or paint it on, glaze is it’s own kind of magic. Many kinds paint on one color and then when glazed comes out completely different. Depending on your surface the dimensions of glaze will lay differently because it’s essentially liquid glass.
5. Glaze Fire – Once again your baby goes into the kiln and now you’ve invested a lot of time and energy into it. This time the stakes are even higher.
6. While you wait, and working on other things you wonder how your piece is fairing in the last fire. You tried something new – are you a genius? Will the glaze run down the surface just right? Will it be exquisite?
7. The moment of truth – You see your piece transformed by glaze and depending on the results your feelings range from elated, surprised or “hmm, it happened like that?”
8. You learn – You begin to plan for the next piece waiting in the wings.
The moral of the story is that you’re always learning, experimenting and looking forward to something.
The process makes me feel magical, like I’m working a spell. I love it.
