Oh, the adventures we’ll have…

I have been kicking around the idea of learning how to “throw pottery”.  It’s intriguing to me – transforming a lump of clay into something functional and fun.  However, I have issues with my hands and I just don’t know if I would be able to make anything remotely useable.

But, one of my Scouting friends (who knows how to throw pottery) suggested that we “hand build” some items.  Hand Building?  What is this strange word?  She explained it to me and off to YouTube I went.  I can absolutely get behind this way of creating items.

So I jumped in, head first (like usual).  I got some tools (the pointy end hurts when you accidentally stab your fingers), 50 pounds of Texas clay and one small hump mold.  I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth and got my hands really, really dirty.

This was Friday.  Today is Wednesday.  I have created 2 tea pots at this point.  They are certainly not the best – they are so very far from it (its scary how rudimental they are).  One is a hot mess that’s full of swirls (it’s round) and the other is a square mess of rolled pieces that are fashioned to look like Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.   So far, it’s not looking to bad.  Well, to be fair, it’s not looking to good either.

Here are some photos of them shortly after I stopped messing with them.

I totally understand what I did wrong now, at least in this stage of the process. I am going to paint and fire them (maybe not in that order though) to see the process carried out to completion.

New adventures are a lot of messy fun.  I don’t know why I waited as long as I did to give this a try…