That sounds like some sort of smack-down doesn’t it?

In this corner, Hand Built.  A century old technique that gives you amazing control over the clay!  And in this corner, Wheel Thrown.  A tried and true form of creating beautiful pieces that combine art and function!

Since I’ve only been throwing on a wheel for a short time (I think it’s a week now) and have more experience hand building, I think I am the expect at all things ceramic now.  And that is a total lie!  There is so much to learn!  So the opinions that follow are my own.  Which don’t mean a lot to anyone but me.

I’ve enjoyed hand building tea pots.  They are wonky and funky – but not entirely useful.  The first chocolate pot, well, that was an unmitigated disaster.  It’s so stupid ugly.  Seriously.  It would not even fit in the “pretty, not perfect” category.  It’s just that bad.   Some of the other pots are better.  The more I do, the better I become – isn’t that what practice is all about?

However, throwing, well, that’s completely different.  The way that the bat looks on the wheel as it’s spinning at a bizillion rpm’s, the feel of the clay in your hands as it’s being pushed around; the chunks of clay trapped under your wedding ring (because you can’t get it off your short, fat fingers)… It’s relaxing.  It’s amazing.  It’s the most intensly relaxing thing I’ve done that is so oddly satifying.

With both techniques, you begin with a lump of clay and shape it into something else.  It’s been rewarding to see some of the things in my head become a reality.  I can’t wait to learn more and become better, or more versed in both techniques.

It’s going to be exciting! Stay tuned…