Dreams and Goals

I made it out to the studio tonight for a couple hours after Maddy went to bed. I set a goal of throwing 12 mugs, and getting all my pendants smoothed around the edges and ready to fire. I'm happy to say I met my goal, getting everything done in just under 2 hours. I'd estimate I was finishing one mug every 8 mins. I think that once I get comfortable with a form I like, I'll be faster and more efficient. I'd like to be able to throw a dozen mugs in an hour. Maybe one day I can get fast enough to make a mug a minute! I guess I've resisted going for speed because I never expected to become a production potter. I don't know if that's what I'm aiming for exactly; I think I just want to throw a lot, and quickly, so that I improve, and have a lot of surfaces to work my designs on.

I was listening to my iphone playlist on shuffle while I worked, and I started daydreaming about how cool it would be to throw a huge art party. I thought, I'll ask Open Mike Eagle, Three Ninjas, Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount, Kimya Dawson, and Side Pony to all perform, and people can eat hummus and drink PBR out of my pottery, and I'll invite all my favorite potters there for a throw-a-thon. There will be sushi on handmade serving trays, and live sketching in progress by my friend Narciso, who will also break dance. Scratch the hummus and PBR, it's my party dammit, I'm gonna serve nothing but Captain and Coke and jambalaya. Well, there will still be sushi. Maybe I will get really drunk, and someone will hand me a mic, and I'll sing reasonably on key and get asked to be a guest on someone's next record. And I'll make mugs for all the musicians, and they'll all be my BFFs for life. It will have to happen in Seattle, or maybe LA if I really want to flip out. While I'm dreaming, might as well invite Busdriver, too.

It could happen, right?

The 12" challenge

Class challenge inspired by another pottery blog whose students set this challenge for themselves. I can't remember where I saw it, so if you're reading this and you just wrote a blog post about your students doing this, let me know so I can give you credit!

Turns out this challenge wasn't as easy as I thought! I threw one 12" bottle on Tuesday first try out of red clay, but it was pretty wobbly. Yesterday I used porcelain, and I've always struggled with getting much height from porcelain. My first try flopped, but I got it the second time around. Both the other students managed to succeed with at least 12 inches as well. Mike B has been throwing for years longer than I have, so he did the challenge quite nicely. It's humbling having students who are better throwers than I am! I'm looking forward to getting to that point where I've got 15 years experience under my belt.