I was ordered to stop coming to work on March 3rd. I am still working my day job but now I am doing it full time from home, which is a couple of feet from my studio. I have a fully functioning pottery studio in my backyard. The isolation has been a revealing for me. I have gone deeper into pottery than ever before. I am starting to produce work that I am proud of. Pots that are well constructed. Glazes that are durable and beautiful.
I have started to force myself to finish every pot. If I make a mistake, I finish the pot. I find a way to overcome the mistake or to work around it. This is Bob Ross' "happy little mistakes" approach. I have found I can recover from almost any mistake. And in learning how to cope with mistakes I make better pots. A working potter told me the key to being a good potter isn't eliminating mistakes, it's being able to overcome them. Well, I am still working to eliminate mistakes, but when something does happen I know how to recover.
As a result of endless hours of being at home I have taken a series of glaze chemistry classes from Ceramics Material Workshop. While glazes have been my obsession for years now, after I completed a couple classes I realized how little I actually knew about glazes. I was a blind man trying to shoot a target I couldn't see.
I've culled all the glaze recipes that don't work. And now that I understand the chemistry, I know why each doesn't work.
I've had help and encouragement along the way. A nationally, heck, internationally known potter let me share studio space. She offered some great encouragement. My adult daughter poked at me to be more artistic in my work. I started doing sculpture as a result. I am loving that.
I've promised a set of bowls to each of my adult children. Once complete I am going to start selling on Etsy or some other platform. Just to see if I can.
In the mean time; there will be a lot more coming about glazes, glaze chemistry and some new techniques I am using. I am deleting all older posts as I hit the reset button on glazes. If any of the older glazes recipes worked it was strictly due to luck.
I have started to force myself to finish every pot. If I make a mistake, I finish the pot. I find a way to overcome the mistake or to work around it. This is Bob Ross' "happy little mistakes" approach. I have found I can recover from almost any mistake. And in learning how to cope with mistakes I make better pots. A working potter told me the key to being a good potter isn't eliminating mistakes, it's being able to overcome them. Well, I am still working to eliminate mistakes, but when something does happen I know how to recover.
As a result of endless hours of being at home I have taken a series of glaze chemistry classes from Ceramics Material Workshop. While glazes have been my obsession for years now, after I completed a couple classes I realized how little I actually knew about glazes. I was a blind man trying to shoot a target I couldn't see.
I've culled all the glaze recipes that don't work. And now that I understand the chemistry, I know why each doesn't work.
I've had help and encouragement along the way. A nationally, heck, internationally known potter let me share studio space. She offered some great encouragement. My adult daughter poked at me to be more artistic in my work. I started doing sculpture as a result. I am loving that.
I've promised a set of bowls to each of my adult children. Once complete I am going to start selling on Etsy or some other platform. Just to see if I can.
In the mean time; there will be a lot more coming about glazes, glaze chemistry and some new techniques I am using. I am deleting all older posts as I hit the reset button on glazes. If any of the older glazes recipes worked it was strictly due to luck.
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