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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

teapot in progress



I spent my studio hours this week throwing a teapot and teacups. Centering the clay on the wheel gets easier each time I try. My hands are finding their positions, gauging the right pressure to compress the clay into a perfectly centered mound. Still, I have quite a few moments of wonkiness, where my hands and fingers don't work together, and I end up with a twisted lump of clay wobbling on the wheel. Luckily, the clay shows me exactly what my hands have done and what they haven't. I see the paths my fingers took as the clay spun and notice if my right index finger pressed too hard or slacked off. I can see from a sunken middle that my left palm pushed down too much. My teacher told me it would take a long time and much practice for my hands to do what my brain wants them to do. I'm enjoying the practice and am not too worried about my mistakes. I only lose a few minutes of time when I make mistakes while throwing clay, which feels amazing compared to my knitting mistakes--they can result in unraveling hours and hours of stitches.

Next week I'll put all the pieces of my teapot together. I'm excited already!

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What have your hands been busy with this week?


8 comments:

  1. How exciting is that? Fun! Can't wait to see it together!

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  2. I can't wait to see it finished! I've been working on a new pillow :)

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  3. Oh, how awesome...your very own handmade teapot. I got some great tea this week (97 per cent inspired by the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books that take place in Africa)! I have been baking lots of bread on these cool days yesterday and today!!!

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  4. I bet you're having such a great time learning how to pot on a wheel! And when you're done, you'll always remember how your hands touched every part of your lovely new teapot!

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  5. Love this! Amazing to see it coming together!

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  6. What an amazingly awesome process! It seems like it would be very therapeutic...

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  7. How exciting. It's looking great. I bet it's a really wonderful sensation---building something like that, having it form in your hands.
    My hands have been busy knitting in waiting rooms, pulling weeds from the dirt and scrubbing and creating in the kitchen. I'm thinking, if the weather is bearable, I'll drag my sewing machine outside to the picnic table in the yard and finally do a little stitching with these hands of mine! (It just feels lonely and sad in the basement...)

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  8. WOWZA! :) Friday and Saturday I took a girls' trip with my mom and sister to Williamstown, West Virginia where we made glass beads at the Fenton Glass factory. Your project looks MUCH better than our beads though! ;)

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