Throwing out my back

In other words, I'm finally back to throwing after eight and a half months without it. I just recently read this amazing book about the history and function of clay throughout human existence that taught me a lot and made me respect clay even more than I had previously. Instrumental in the the process of learning to cook food, creating dwellings, developing sanitation, and other important stuff, it is basically made of rule.

So tonight, after reading this book, I sat down to throw for the first time in several months. I had four balls of varying sizes and wetness and did my basic centering with difficulty. As I begin to throw again, obviously, I'll regain my strength and, hopefully, gain more. The first thing I need to accomplish with throwing is a set of 6-8 cereal/soup type bowls for my bizbaz donation last year. So I started off trying for a bowl. For a while it was going ok, but then it didn't. Then I threw with a massive ball of clay, and it wanted to be a vase. It is currently drying in vase form, with proportions and shape inspired by the female figure. Big surprise there.

Then I had a small ball of clay again, only partway through working with it I discovered some hard bits that didn't need to be there; after getting rid of them, it went ok, but didn't culminate in a piece. Then I threw a huge, wet ball, my final ball of clay, and after basically cutting it in half due to inconsistencies within it (I did wedge a bit, but I still suck at/dislike wedging, so not as much as I should have) I did manage to throw a fairly decent bowl. It's not a shape I'm wild about, but I think (should it survive) it'll be replicable. So there's a start on commission #1, which does not gain me money but gets it the hell off my mind. Also, the vase is around 10" last I checked, so it should be decently sized even after firing... I'm hoping for between 7" and 8" tall. I need to get a better sense of how much pieces shrink in firing, although of course this'll be low-fire instead of the high-fire I'm used to.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to write tonight, after neglecting my blog for well over a year, was because I'm starting to develop a philosophy about the way I approach clay. I dislike having a deadline for making several similar items, although I recognize that it's good for me to learn to throw more consistently and thus making sets is about the best thing for me, technique-wise, right now. But I have a few commissions (either definite or on the horizon) that are more interesting to me because they're a bit more open-ended, have a decently large block of time between now and when they're needed, and are fun shapes to either throw or learn to throw. One involves goblets or, like, champagne flutes, which I'm pretty psyched to work on once this bowl thing is done. I haven't tried to throw goblet type things since sophomore year, so it's been a while - I can only hope that I'd do it better now than I did then. And I think that's possible.

Nothing to do but throw and see what happens. The clay is older and more opinionated than I am, and it knows better than I do what it's suited to be. I respect it a great deal; it's like Michelangelo and blocks of marble. Ok, yes, I just compared myself to Michelangelo, which is full of bullshit, but it is sort of how I feel about throwing. The clay has a piece of pottery within it, and it's up to me to select the clay properly and coax it into the shape it wants to be. I need to learn to listen to the clay better and to coax it into its shape while being able to communicate my needs to it.

As Sonia says: "That is some pretty mystic, new age, hippie shit."