Saturday, April 7, 2012

Life is a highway and there are potholes: A New Love in My Life....

Life is a highway and there are potholes: A New Love in My Life....: No, it's not what you think.  I'm not leaving hubby or doggy Sunshine.  Nor have I joined a cult or found a boy-toy.  I finally got to go ...

A New Love in My Life....

No, it's not what you think.  I'm not leaving hubby or doggy Sunshine.  Nor have I joined a cult or found a boy-toy. 

I finally got to go to my friend,  Suzanne's studio yesterday.  Suzanne is a potter, and proprietor of Flying Pig Pottery .  Now, I have never tried pottery before, but Suzanne and I have been friends for a couple of years now and yesterday, with the day off of work I decided I was going to go over there!

I did some hand-forming, and started 3 mugs while I was there.  I still have to go back and add the handle, then we'll have to fire them in the kiln and glaze - meanwhile, I'm praying that they will turn out and not get destroyed in any of the processes until they're finished. 

Working with clay definitely requires patience, which I usually have very little of.  You can't force it to come together, it takes time to do what it's going to do and it forces you to slow down which is exactly what I needed. 

Making the mugs by hand was also interesting.  I made a design for each one, putting the design on a flat piece of clay, then had to form it into a cylinder which gives a chance to mold the clay together and make the seams come together.  It was very calming and I couldn't rush it or it would not work.

I guess that is the main lesson I learned from working yesterday on my little projects, to slow down.  Some things you can't just rush through and some things can't be forced.  You have to take time to make time. 

Just in case my mugs don't survive the rest of the processes, here are pictures of 2 of the mugs I started.  They're still wet clay at this point, so they don't look like much, but hopefully I'll have better ones to show you later!