Pottery + POT Echo Park
Hi friends,
Today I have a non- photo update for you. I finally crossed off a bucket list dream goal - throwing pottery on a wheel and wanted to share how it went. So I am always trying to learn something, but pottery has forever been top of the list of things I wanted to try.
I could picture myself, strands of purple hair escaping from my messy bun, coiling around my face as I bent over in deep concentration, body shrouded in a clay spattered apron, hands covered in slip, calmly guiding it into form as my foot pressed down on the pedal, my hands confident, my body relaxed, everything connected. I knew it would be incredible- so when my husband got me an intro wheel class as a birthday present at POT he quickly shot to best husband status and won the best present award. What transpired was a little different though…
Still clad in an apron, purple hair still obviously messy, those first few classes on the wheel were more anxious than I would have ever imagined! Why is this clay thing so wobbly? Where is the center of this? Do I need more water? Less? Have I ruined this yet or am I about to? And where the fuck is Patrick Swayze?
After 9,021 questions, and 2 classes I ended up with some clay pieces that looked like this.
Those busted ones aren’t mine but WOW I can relate.
As you can see not everyone in the classes pieces made it through this harrowing journey. The next class we “trimmed” the pieces which basically means you spin those suckers again and scrape bits off strategically to de-wonk them and make them actually look like something. This class wasn’t about making a specific shape, just learning how things work so our shapes were all a little…interesting. Here is what they looked like after trimming and when I was putting my initials on them!
(10W1 isn’t a secret password to a special cool kids club it just means October Wheel One)
To finish off the class, our last experience in almost ruining everything was glazing. Glazing works by a chemical reaction of the heat and the minerals in the glaze interacting with the heat, verse a paint (if I was paying attention…) so the colors and textures you apply end up looking very different after your little pottery babies hang out in the kiln for a chunk of time. Here is for example, what the mossy green color looked like in the bucket. Def not green…
Some other shots pre-kiln. Yeah I know I need a manicure like yesterday, no I am never going to do it.
After an AGONIZING two weeks (no one ever accused me of being patient) I was able to come see if I had finally botched these things or if they came out cool. To the great surprise of…well…at least me…they turned out awesome! I made (5) smol sized pieces total. Here they are!
Stripey Bowl Guy
The brown parts are where I left glaze off so you can see the natural color of the clay!
Cool Olive Colored Bowl Guy
This is my favorite of all my children…
So olive. Drips are intentional even if they look a little stupid now…
Small Size Mossy Bowl Guy
Other Small Mossy Thing
This is the second favorite of my children not that I would rank my children but….#2
And finally the tiniest yellow bowl guy that ever bowled
Much yellow…
So that’s it. I potted some pots. It was a really cool experience at POT in Echo Park where the studio is awesome, the teachers are really cool and you can drink a beer while you pottery so you don’t stress yourself out too much wondering WHY IS IT STILL WOBBLING?!?
Keep an eye out to see if any of these tiny bois find their way into photos! It will be like where’s waldo except these pots will be naked and not wearing sweaters…
Til next time,
Happy snacking,
xoxo,
RP
