Wheel Throwing Week 3

 Unfair that tonight I have to trim my two weeks ago bad pots

 instead of making today good pots.

I spent any available taking-good-photos-in-good-light time gouging and ungouging my pots so will have to make do without visuals: 

My first two weeks of wheel, my items are not the same center all the way up. So I placed them today, upside down with the rim centered, checked the center halfway up the pot by placing a tool in its way and noting if it scored in only one place. Those parts were centered: the rim, and halfway up. However, the bottom of the pot which I had to actually remove clay from to make a little foot for the piece to rest on, the bulls eye center of the piece was off to one side like a fried egg. 

I planned to be fastidious about only making things that I have a real need for. I just moved into my completely own apartment for the first time. When I stayed here the first night before I moved anything, I got some ready made salads at the grocery store thinking I would definitely have some kind of fork or spoon in my bag or in the car. I had one chopstick. I had to eat my salad by hand, with the one kitchen towel serving as placemat and napkin. Now that I have all my stuff, there is nothing I need like I needed a second chopstick that night. But there are things that were communal at my old house, that I now do not have. 

In particular, a big bowl for popcorn. From our old house I took our chipped communal garlic grating plate, so it would please me to make at least a second one for my brother now that we are not sharing, and maybe one to replace the chipped one. Unclear why I have zero mugs, I suppose they might have moved out with someone else. I have been happily drinking every beverage from the same pint glass. This is working perfectly except when I have to take medicine when the glass is in the dishwasher and had to put water into an empty coke can. This has happened twice in the six weeks I have been here. And if I have a guest they have to drink out of their own water bottle. So it would be nice to have two coordinating hand thrown mugs. I'm also imagining a to go cup. So far, I only found two bowls to pack, one cereal and one soup. The soup bowl can fit a packet of ramen (while it is still square) but the cereal bowl can't. So if I had a guest, I would have to cook my ramen brick one side at a time. Altogether a rather long list. 

1 Popcorn bowl (blue)

1 garlic grater (blue) 

2, 15 oz mugs (blue)

1 to go cup (purple)

2 ramen bowls (white) 

The plan is so clear. And yet I have thrown:

 1 garlic grater, 

1 flower pot, 

1 ramen bowl (kind of small), and

1 ?Can of soup cozy?

 I can't believe last week the clay was controlling my body. The instructor explained that I shape the clay, that I brace my arm into my leg and put my weight into it. It felt like I was doing these things, but the wobble in the clay was a cam pushing my arm into my leg, every rotation. She would observe, tell me again to brace my arm, I would try again, the clay pushing me as it developed more and more wobble. This week, I don't know why, I was resolved to stay in one place. I made myself into one unit, feet braced to the floor, straight back leaning to bear down on the clay collecting bucket with my forearms, pressing on the clay hard with my linked hands and elbows stabilized at my legs. Since our instructor isn't doing all this I expect I will be able to back off a lot of this as I get more skilled. But it just seemed obvious this week that the clay couldn't overrule me and as I was looking down at it spinning compliantly where I wanted, I couldn't believe how we were both behaving last week, my first time at the wheel. 

So glad to have found this studio, I will go there for a long time. Ideally the only things I fire will be things I need. I most need a popcorn bowl. The one I have been using is staying with my old housemate. I have been picky, looking to thrift a blue glass bowl.