Mud Flinging- 30 Day Challenge

Day 1:

I finally got my pottery wheel and I am posting daily pictures of my progress for the first month.  I have no real experience with this, aside from a date night Jim planned for us two years ago.  He showed up at my office with old jeans and tennis shoes and said he had scheduled a date night surprise.

I was thrilled when I saw him pull into the parking space across from a pottery studio in Houston.  We made simple plates and the teacher centered the ball of clay for us.  It was fun but the class and project were intended for entertainment and not real instruction.

The plates we made were a great introduction to the pottery wheel and I knew this was something I had to try again.

The plates were done in a couple of hours and the we left them to be fired in the kiln.  We returned in a couple of days to pick up our masterpieces.  I love them!

Today:  I just can’t seem to get the clay to center.  I’ve been covered in mud and it’s 28 degrees in Texas at the moment, so this messy project is happening in the Ely room.  I took a break and watched a couple of videos.  They make it look so easy and I am definitely struggling.

This video demonstrates my goal.  I want to have a nice big fruit bowl when I am done.

I like the teaching style of Timsee clay.  Next to centering the ball of clay, I am winding up with a really gooshy mess!  I love that this guy will show all the stuff that can go wrong and how to fix it!

Even though I am far from where I want to be, I remember having the same frustrating feelings when I first taught myself to knit, so I know that continued practice and patience is the only way I will improve.  It also helps to see any amount of improvement, so keeping this 30 day diary will be a great source of motivation.  Day 1 down…..Now to clean up!

Day 2:

This one is only a little better than yesterday’s attempt; but it took only a fraction of the time to get to this point and only a fraction of the cussing, so yeah!