One thing I learned this week is
that pottery is expensive for a reason. Over the weekend, I met with Lynn
Hoffman, who has her own ceramics studio – equipped with pottery wheels, an
impressive collection of tools, and a kiln – she has been creating and selling
her own pottery for the better part of her adult life. Ms. Hoffmann guided me
on a tour of the quaint studio (pictured below) and taught me about the process
of making a piece of pottery. It goes a little bit like this:
First, you work with the clay, she told me, and
that’s a process all in itself. You wedge it, which is kind of like kneading
dough, to get all of the air bubbles out. If there are air bubbles in the clay,
it’ll explode in the kiln. Then, you center the clay on a pottery wheel and begin
constructing your piece, which is a lot
easier said than done. For our session, Ms. Hoffmann was demonstrating how to
make a pitcher, which is what I’ve decided will be my end goal for this
project. Back to the process – she worked with the clay on the wheel and
described the three basic components of creating a piece of pottery (pictured
below)
She taught me how to properly align
my hands so that the clay would stay centered (elbows on your knees, palms
facing inwards). Now this can make or break your piece, quite literally. Later
in the session, I learned the hard way, but I’ll get to that. After she had
created her pitcher, she set it to dry. Usually, she leaves her pieces out for
a few days before firing them in the kiln. The tour continued from there.
Adjacent from the pottery wheels was a nook occupied by a kiln and a glazing
station. She further went into detail about the glazing and firing process.
First, the piece is fired in the kiln. This is what is known as “bisquing” the
piece to prepare it for glazing. Then, you glaze the piece, and it goes back in
the kiln where the glaze is set and the piece is finalized. The whole process
generally takes about five days.
Then, it was my turn to try the wheel. It started out better than I anticipated. With a relatively steady hand, I molded the clay on the wheel until the pitcher was about four and a half inches tall. Here's a picture:
There were a blissful few moments of me thinking I might finish my first piece in one try, but then the clay started thinning out. I tried my best to salvage the remains, to recenter the clay, and to continue molding upwards, but it wasn't that simple (videos to come...). I ended the session with a piece that could be considered abstract to say the least...
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| Before... |
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| ...After |
...and decided to call it a day.
Back to my first point: Lynn Hoffmann has been selling her own pieces for years. She makes ornate outdoor pieces as well as plates and bowls.
But the small pieces can cost upwards of $60. Now, before trying my hand at pottery, I would probably consider that outlandish, but after learning and experiencing what a labor intensive, detail oriented process creating pottery is, I have a new found appreciation for the art. Updates to come in the next week... as well as progress!
I think that it's awesome that you were able to meet up with an expert potter in person and get hands-on instructions! I think that being able to hear and see the instructions given by your expert is much more effective than an email conversation. Like you said, the specific steps you laid out don't seem too bad, but I'm sure they're a struggle. I can't wait to see your improvement from you "abstract" piece and how your final products will turn out. I love the modern/clean look of your blog and I think it matches your topic well!
ReplyDeleteIt is good that you were able to experience a bit of trouble in the world of pottery at this stage of your learning. Failing early on will definitely help you perfect your craft later on. I also think that it is very cool that you were able to meet with an expert, and have her help you hands on. There is no better exposure to the world of pottery then what you got in that little art studio. I am excited to see the videos that you will be posting, and more importantly your finished project! Great job so far!
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