I got into pottery a couple years ago, primarily using hand building techniques to make mugs, plates, curio shelves, all types of “holders” and anything else you can think of. My house is filled with all of my janky ceramics, the good, the bad and the ugly! Using the pottery wheel has always been a daunting task for me, but for Christmas I was given the most incredible gift, a 7 week wheel throwing class. I will be documenting my progress in this blog, and exploring how hard wheeling throwing really is!
Signed up for a one-time beginner wheel throwing class at a craft studio near my house. It was $20 for an hour and a half of throwing, and you could keep 2 pieces. It was just me in the “class” and it ended up being just free time to practice. The lady running the studio,…
This week I was finally able to get back into the studio to glaze my three pieces. Glazing is the process of applying a paint-like solution of minerals to your bisqued (already fired in the kiln once) piece. The minerals then melt at high temperatures in the kiln creating a glassy effect that seals the…
I still have one more session of glazing then I’m done the pottery class! It’s had to reschedule last week’s class because I was away but I am hoping to have the makeup done sometime this week. Because of this it’s been over a full week since I’ve been in the studio, and over 2…
This was the final week before we get to glaze our final pieces! We had lots of time to trim our remaining pieces, and pick the final 3 that would be fired and glazed. The three pieces above are the final three! Trimming Re-Do I only had 4 things to trim today, 2 bowls and…
Next week is another trimming session followed up by a final class dedicated to glazing our final pieces, so today was our last day on the wheel. It was another humbling day. Today was meant to be a day for plates / doing any final projects we really wanted to try. The instructor did a…
This week I’m trying vlogging! Due to file size, I’ve separated my rant into four parts. Enjoy! The Trimming Process & My Experience Being Imperfect Models for our Students Importance of Community While Learning Next Week Trimmed Pieces The first photo was an attempt at a foot… it doesn’t look much like a foot AND…
After a week of watching pottery videos on Instagram, and dreaming about being on the wheel, it was finally time to get muddy again! This week was a bitter sweet end to the semi-private throwing lessons as two more classmates joined. I felt I had got much of the basics covered in the first class,…
I had been so excited but also so nervous to start this class. I had tried throwing one time before and it was challenging, messy and I wasn’t very good at it. In my own defence I wasn’t in the right head space that day, and I’ve been told by potters that your mind set…