I dropped this pot on the side of the bucket after slipping it.
Just goes to show that anything can happen at any time.
Every so often I get asked to fill in and teach a pottery class when a friend of mine goes out of town. The last time I did this I had a student ask me to show her how to make a certain kind of pot. I did a demo for her (with others watching) and then helped her along as she made her own pot.
A short time later another student called me over and said she needed help. She was trying to make the same pot and part way through it had gone wrong. It wasn't totaled but it was very much off center and getting wobbly and worse the more she messed with it.
She wanted me to 'fix it'. (Just writing that made me giggle a little). I told her she'd be better off re-wedging that clay and starting over. No, she didn't want to do that. She said she had two more things she wanted to make before class ended and if she started over on this pot then she wouldn't get to the others.
So I told her, "that's the best it's gonna get."
To which she replied, "But it's not perfect."
"Nope, and it's not going to be, you've passed the part where it could have been perfect. It's fine like it is, if you want to keep it you should take it off now."
"Can't you fix it?"
"It would be better to just start over."
"I want to just fix this one and I want it to be better."
"It's not going to get any better, it's too late for that."
It was in pretty bad shape. It was a platter by the way, but being the softy that I am I worked on it a bit and it came out looking ....well it looked crooked and lumpy, but she settled for it. (Settled is right, she was not happy with it. Ha. It's funny, but she was dead set on not trying to make another one.)
Now there are a couple reasons I tell you all this story. The first is that it's insane to think that something should be perfect, especially when it's the first time you've ever made it and you're not willing to give it more than one shot. The word perfect shouldn't even be used in pottery class. I could go on and on about this but I will not.
Here's another reason for this story. What if the next week that student came back, unwrapped that pot from the plastic it had been under, turned around, tripped and dropped the pot? Gone. In an instant. Is anything lost? No. Some time. Some clay. What to do? Make another one. And another one.
Making pottery is risk taking. Every thing about it. Nothing is guaranteed. The bisque could over fire. The glaze could run, or pinhole, or blister. You may step on the speed pedal and there goes the pot flying across the room. Drop the pot on the slip bucket. Boom, it's gone.
If any of it was guaranteed then it would be boring and not worth doing. Just like making perfect pots.
Just goes to show that anything can happen at any time.Every so often I get asked to fill in and teach a pottery class when a friend of mine goes out of town. The last time I did this I had a student ask me to show her how to make a certain kind of pot. I did a demo for her (with others watching) and then helped her along as she made her own pot.
A short time later another student called me over and said she needed help. She was trying to make the same pot and part way through it had gone wrong. It wasn't totaled but it was very much off center and getting wobbly and worse the more she messed with it.
She wanted me to 'fix it'. (Just writing that made me giggle a little). I told her she'd be better off re-wedging that clay and starting over. No, she didn't want to do that. She said she had two more things she wanted to make before class ended and if she started over on this pot then she wouldn't get to the others.
So I told her, "that's the best it's gonna get."
To which she replied, "But it's not perfect."
"Nope, and it's not going to be, you've passed the part where it could have been perfect. It's fine like it is, if you want to keep it you should take it off now."
"Can't you fix it?"
"It would be better to just start over."
"I want to just fix this one and I want it to be better."
"It's not going to get any better, it's too late for that."
It was in pretty bad shape. It was a platter by the way, but being the softy that I am I worked on it a bit and it came out looking ....well it looked crooked and lumpy, but she settled for it. (Settled is right, she was not happy with it. Ha. It's funny, but she was dead set on not trying to make another one.)
Now there are a couple reasons I tell you all this story. The first is that it's insane to think that something should be perfect, especially when it's the first time you've ever made it and you're not willing to give it more than one shot. The word perfect shouldn't even be used in pottery class. I could go on and on about this but I will not.
Here's another reason for this story. What if the next week that student came back, unwrapped that pot from the plastic it had been under, turned around, tripped and dropped the pot? Gone. In an instant. Is anything lost? No. Some time. Some clay. What to do? Make another one. And another one.
Making pottery is risk taking. Every thing about it. Nothing is guaranteed. The bisque could over fire. The glaze could run, or pinhole, or blister. You may step on the speed pedal and there goes the pot flying across the room. Drop the pot on the slip bucket. Boom, it's gone.
If any of it was guaranteed then it would be boring and not worth doing. Just like making perfect pots.