Pottery Progression

Week 4 at pottery (week 3 for me) and we’ve progressed to the potters wheel! I was expecting a complete mess, lots of wasted clay and much hilarity as we grappled with it.

So, after a quick demo we sat at the wheels, slapped some clay onto them and got our hands dirty. Controlling the speed of the wheel with our foot and doing our best to control the lump of clay with our hands. We weren’t going for anything too ambitious as we were really just trying to get the feel for it. I don’t want to tempt fate by saying it wasn’t as difficult as I was expecting, because I’m sure I was moments from disaster at all times, but we actually managed to produce something!

My first bowl went OK. It needs some tidying up around the base. I could have done that yesterday but as it was my first one I decided to quit while I was ahead and not risk ruining it. I think Anna’s first attempt ended up on the recycling table! My second attempt was a little better. They weren’t supposed to be even I was just practising! Anna’s second bowl came out well too.

I also went with a little plan this week. In previous weeks I’ve been at a loss for ideas and didn’t really know what to build so this week I wanted to make a start on some Christmas decorations! I went armed with the tools I’d need but as we were using the wheels I didn’t really have much time to use them. I did manage to make a start on one quick tree, so we’ll see how that turns out as well.

It’s a Bank Holiday next week so there’ll be no pottery for us – no doubt we’ll have to re-learn all the things we’ve done so far after a couple of weeks not doing it.

Tags: Pottery