A lump of clay
and a wonky pot. So my first experiences with clay since primary school weren’t exactly successful, but it was fun, entertaining, and interesting. The kind of interest that a year working mostly from home and limiting social exposure due to the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated that I needed in my life more than ever. Ultimately a hobby!
My interest in pottery started in December 2020. After 9 months of isolating myself, watching our social lives wither, and working from home, I managed to fill my time watching competitive reality craft shows. I’d started with various baking programs from Netflix’s “Nailed It” to the “Great British Bakeoff” and while impressive (especially the sugar creations, and cake making) they just didn’t keep my attention. Next, I switched between glass blowing from “Blown Away” to weapon smiting in “Forged in Fire.” Both are incredibly cool pastimes, and both are considerably dangerous not to mention expensive. I finally started watching “The Great Pottery Throw Down” and I was hooked. I watched all the available episodes and felt an overwhelming desire to get my hands muddy. After all, it didn’t look that hard… Geez was I wrong!
When I ran out of seasons of “The Great Pottery Throw Down” I quickly turned to YouTube finding a mix of educational and inspirational content on Ceramics from a variety of creators. My biggest problem, however, I didn’t have a wheel, clay or any of the tools to try my hand at the craft. I’d tried raiding my son’s Crayola Air Dry Clay, but it just wasn’t the same. Without a wheel or any creative sculpting talents myself, I knew the only way to satisfy my curiosity for the art form was to find a wheel, some real clay, and a space to start throwing things.
A “try it night”
The obvious solution was to find a local studio that offered the experience of using a wheel, and luckily there was one not too far away. The only issue; patience was required due to COVID-19 restrictions and the sudden surge in the popularity of the hobby making a booking hard to come by. Finally, in April 2021 my patience paid off and my wife and I headed down to the Clay Haus in Palm Beach Gardens for a wheel throwing “Try It Night.”
The experience was fantastic. Although clearly, I had underestimated the difficulty in controlling and shaping a spinning ball of mud. My first attempt was a failure. I couldn’t find center without assistance from the instructor. When I came to making an opening by dropping down the middle, I ended up hitting the bat. My first cylinder wall was barely an inch high (on one side only) before it was uneven. As it grew taller its walls were waves of varying thickness before my finger ruptured one of the thinner parts and mud flew everywhere. The cylinder collapsed in on itself. Having now sat threw Beginner Wheel Throwing class twice, I understand this is a very normal first experience.
My second attempt was more controlled. A larger ball of clay helped offset the scale of my hands and fingers and exercising restraint I was able to avoid hitting the bat while dropping down my opening. Pulling up the walls was still a challenge, but the result was a basic cylinder, with variably thickness walls and an uneven rim. I then learnt and implemented the most important lesson in throwing pottery on the wheel.
Stop!
There is a tendency for almost everyone learning to wheel throw ceramics to try for perfection. To play with the clay and to continue touching it in an attempt to shape it to the point of destruction. I’ve now, almost a year later, done this many times and maybe even collapsed some of my best work with the incessant need to add final tweaks to the form. After all, as soon as you first wheel throw you’ll quickly find that the spinning clay is incredibly tactile. The clay slip moving through your fingers is an enjoyable sensation, and the satisfaction of being able to shape the clay leads to a quick sense of accomplishment. Its only natural to want each piece to be perfect.
I took what I’d leant throwing my first and second cylinders and attempted to throw a third. The clay had different ideas and decided it wanted to be my first bowl. It still had a wonky rim and variable thickness walls, but an acceptable piece. I must confess, I did not glaze either of these two pieces I completed that night. The “Try It Night” experience included only wheel throwing. Trimming and glazing were left in the experienced hands of the Clay Haus team. My compliments to them for making two rather wonky pieces look as good as they did. The overall experience had me hooked. I eagerly wanted to share the experience with my Son, who had started watching ceramics YouTubers himself, and I knew I needed more lessons and more time behind the wheel.
That’s how the ceramics journey began for me. I now have a good handle on the basics and can consistently throw a decent sized cylinder. There are plenty of examples of my basic shapes and early work in our Gallery to check out. We’ve also a sizable stockpile of our early pottery we attempt to get rid of at every opportunity. However, much like every hobby, there are expenses, which lead Amanda and me to look at the work we were producing to see if maybe there was an avenue to turn our newfound ceramics passion into a business… one that at least breaks even on the costs. I encourage you to follow along on our ceramics journey, here on our website and our social media, as we see if there’s a market for our work and an interest in our ceramic creations.