Making pottery, again!

I started taking a pottery class last week. It's at Glen Echo Park in Maryland. It takes place in a yurt. I was very nervous going in. I haven't thrown since the early summer of 2008. That's three years ago. I signed up for the Intermediate/Advanced class, figuring that I'm close to one of those two things. I mean, I got an associate's degree and worked for potters, right? I showed up, nervous as a kid on the first day of school. Everyone was incredibly nice, and the instructor gave a me a great tour of the facilities. Small, but clearly very productive.

I just threw to get myself back in the rhythm of what clay feels like and how I work with the wheel. I kept my bad habits in mind (I still use too much water when I throw) and just kept making cylinders, cutting them in half and seeing how I was doing. Not bad. I really focused on making my rims as well, as I had the bad habit of reaching the end of a piece and it had no rim. That was night one.

Night two I had plans. Plans for bowls. I wedged my clay, sat myself down and got to work. I threw several nice things, but nothing up to my standards. Plus, I kept cutting things in half, just to see what my wall thickness was, how my rim proportion was, you know, the things that, if you enjoy pottery, makes the piece so much better looking and feeling. It takes a lot of work to make it happen. The people sitting next to me kept wondering why I was destroying what seemed to be perfectly good pieces. I tried to explain that I hold myself to a very high standard.

All that said, I have 5 more weeks of making work! And, I kept a coffee mug and a bowl. I might just keep on taking these classes if it goes well.