Lessons of a beginner potter
☾ Written on the Last Quarter in Taurus.
Hello and happy belated Lunar New Year! Welcome to the year of the Wood Snake.
It's me, wriggling back out of the forest after some quiet time. Time spent centring, recovering, and reshaping relationships. Including, my relationship with writing.
I'm renewing an intention – that what I share here, with you, comes from a place of desire, devotion, and diligent practice. So, today, I decided to write about pottery.
I started pottery classes a few weeks ago with a local co-op, around and humming like a wheel since the late 1960s. I was on the waitlist for over a year and this winter it was finally time to take it up.
Pottery is teaching me many things, perhaps most of all, how to create and shape a vessel. It is good practice for feeling out what a piece of clay wants to be and holding those boundaries.
Protecting the time, space, and energy to sustain a creative practice is one of my boundaries. I love trudging through the snow once a week to go do that; to flop and flourish with people as we learn a new skill. It is a gift.
I hope these lessons are too. :-)
Remember,
There are many shapes between broken and whole.
Do not get attached to anything you make.
Clay is forgiving.
It can be reshaped and reused, over and over again.
Basically, anytime until it has gone through the kiln.
Even after the kiln, it is possible to repair the break lines, chips, and gaps.
It is okay to let it be broken and recycle the pieces too.
Sometimes, trimming helps us rediscover our shape.
It is crucial to know when to stop.
Going past this, to smooth out 'imperfections' can compromise the vessel. Make it collapse.
There is usually more space to expand, to open, than you think.
Move with your hands connected.
