I decided to teach myself pottery after attending a memorial service for my partners grandmother. Cynthia had been an artist and in addition to painting she created life-sized crow sculptures. There feathers were in motion, individual feathers blowing at different angles in the wind.
This is the first bowl that I made (coil)
I started at home with clay that bakes in the sun and doesn’t need to be kilned. Clay feels strange in my hands it is malleable. On the wheel clay jumps and moves in your hand. It has life and I control it, the red clay feeling like it is coming out of my hands continuously.
Learning Process
Step 1: Reading about, watching YouTube movies demonstrating wheel techniques
Step 2: Practice manipulating clay at home. Making busts and masks
Step 3: Practice wedging and creating slab forms. Reading and looking at examples
Step 4: Creating coil pot. Reading and video descring how to make smooth coil pots
Step 5: Attemptiing to throw.Made many mistakes.Had assistance from two Women in the studio. One of them was able to quickly describe centering and once I got that figured out I watched more YouTube videos and read more books Clayworks (Nigoroshi). Some of the mistakes I made that first day included not attaching the clay to the wheel properly and having it fly into the wall, sweeping (silica dust=bad).
