If you enjoy making pottery, can you say why?

I learned how to make pottery in junior high art classes, and loved it. I even had one of those cheap plastic pottery wheels made for kids in my room at home. Something about taking a lump of clay and shaping it with your hands and tools into something useful and beautiful was very satisfying. I even used air-dry clay to make little figurines, which were utterly useless, but fun. I still remember my favorite, it was a junkyard scene complete with a little cat and garbage cans overflowing with trash. Why would I even make such a thing, haha?

The only downsides are it’s very messy, and very drying to the skin on my hands. I don’t think I could do it now, but I wish I could.

I did this as a youngster my grandmother was very crafty.

And for the odd school project. I loved it. I loved all techniques that I tried. Though the wheel I did not have enough technique or consistency for. Just using the wire to plop off a chunk was great.

I found the process shaping moving carving to be thought consuming. Knowing that no one else would create something identical to me. The mess. Working with it splashing water on it and watching it reinvigorate.

I never had a kiln though or access to one whenever I wanted.

If I remember correctly there was some scary element to firing it. It could fail structurally? Must not have happened to me. Or I would have remembered that part. Maybe it was just the letting go and the waiting that I found difficult.

@augustlan I think a junkyard is terrific esp with animals.

@rosehips I remember firing things in the kiln at school, and losing a few pieces when they cracked in there. You never knew exactly what the finished product would look like til it came out of that kiln.

@augustlan Ah so that was it. I guess I never properly tested the limits of clay.

Grammar school first, then in college while I worked in occupational therapy at a hospital and taught it.
Still throw once and while at Arts Council. I can appreciate the pieces I buy and then I give away the pieces I do.

Because every time I do it, Patrick Swayze’s ghost shows up and says, “Oh shit, I thought you’re Demi-!”