Joyce Lee on wed 2 jun 04
Most recognize that as a person....... an Old
Person....... I'm as mature as I care to be. I
didn't know that my maturation as a potter still had
a way to go, as proven to me every day since
returning to the studio a gradually increasing
several hours daily. =20
Despite my six years plus as a potter, I've
NEVER been able to make a reasonably
technically correct pot ...... and then proceed
to slice it in half in order to examine my skill growth,
or lack thereof. Did this a few times, yes, in the
community college class I took and once while
taking lessons from Robin Hopper's tapes. Those
efforts never convinced me that halving my
Possibly Ok pots was a worthwhile endeavor.
I've now been back in the studio for two weeks
and I have not one pot to show for it, but have
learned a great deal..... Because I Bit the
Bullet and Cut. I highly recommend that those
of you who've felt the same as I but are still
not satisfied with your forms, get on with it.
My forms ARE improving daily....... wider, taller,
much more controlled..... the softer clay with
the Peter Pugger helps tremendously, of course,
especially since I've not only been away for so
many months but returned with arthritis. NOW
I'm confident that if I want to produce a=20
lumpy, dumpy pot (which I do love and will
continue to make ), it will be
By Choice.... My Choice...... not because that's
all I can manage. NOW (I hope) when a visitor
comments that he likes my unusual rims.... strong,
yes, but curvy and irregular.... I hope I'll be able to
say, "thank you," without thinking "is there any
other kind.....?"
Most significant lesson I've learned is that it wasn't
Bad Throwing that was causing my problems, but
improper preparation of the clay ball itself BEFORE
I began centering, pulling up etc .... which
left me with uneven amounts of clay on the sides of
my pots although the ball appeared to be centered.....
it WAS centered, but only on the top. I had
blamed my stiff clay, but nope...... there were the
same uneven sides WITH the softer clay...... most
noticeably in the rims.
So many of you seem to trod similar paths that
I thought you might be experiencing my often
unaddressed Centering Problems, also.
Joyce
In the Mojave back doing the Waltz of the Shinos
once again ..... with a bit of Bunny Hop here&there.... after declaring =
that I would
NOT mix another batch of shino..... anybody's
shino.... for a long, long time. Just can't resist.
I found a list of "things I want to try with
shino....... different shinos..." and that was it.....
the lure of the Bad Boy Shino is still there.
pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on wed 2 jun 04
Hi Joyce,
Hows your neck of the Mojave these daze? Getting 'warm' yet?
But...anyway...Oooooooooooo, yes...a nice homogenuity of the
well-wedged and
about-to-be-thrown...IS the fast-lane of the Road to
Centering Happiness...
I tended to cut things from-top-down-the-middle from the
get-go.
I knew
or had some feel for what I wanted to see for sections of
how thick and where...the graduated thinning of the
ascent...all of that, maybe from instinct in a way...
And too, I was often vexed at the irregular densities of
the Cllay I had not wedged thoroughly enough, spoiling
something as was so tenderly poised to be 'almost'
done...and ugh...lumpy dumpy problems just as you describe.
Wedgewedgewedgewedge...!
(Are there wedgeing songs anyone sings while at the task?
You know, like 'Southern'' work Gangs used to have, or still
have?)
A good thing to do...even if solo...
Homogenuity...so essential...if other than loose, casual
small vernacular Teabowls or the like...certainly important
for Bowl-Bowls...and...for one's Happiness at the Wheel...
Love,
Phil
el vee - where, it is said the temperature to-day is 107...
Ahhhhh...'Spring'...!
Flies bounceing and buzzing off the cieling...sweat rolling
off my forehead as I write...and...sigh...a few more months
of this and I will be motivated to get on the roof and get
the wangy old LBJ era swamp Cooler going yet again for
another round of dribble and shudder and blow...but not
yet...I like to savor the experience awhile...first...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joyce Lee"
Most recognize that as a person....... an Old
Person....... I'm as mature as I care to be. I
didn't know that my maturation as a potter still had
a way to go, as proven to me every day since
returning to the studio a gradually increasing
several hours daily.
Despite my six years plus as a potter, I've
NEVER been able to make a reasonably
technically correct pot ...... and then proceed
to slice it in half in order to examine my skill growth,
or lack thereof. Did this a few times, yes, in the
community college class I took and once while
taking lessons from Robin Hopper's tapes. Those
efforts never convinced me that halving my
Possibly Ok pots was a worthwhile endeavor.
I've now been back in the studio for two weeks
and I have not one pot to show for it, but have
learned a great deal..... Because I Bit the
Bullet and Cut. I highly recommend that those
of you who've felt the same as I but are still
not satisfied with your forms, get on with it.
My forms ARE improving daily....... wider, taller,
much more controlled..... the softer clay with
the Peter Pugger helps tremendously, of course,
especially since I've not only been away for so
many months but returned with arthritis. NOW
I'm confident that if I want to produce a
lumpy, dumpy pot (which I do love and will
continue to make ), it will be
By Choice.... My Choice...... not because that's
all I can manage. NOW (I hope) when a visitor
comments that he likes my unusual rims.... strong,
yes, but curvy and irregular.... I hope I'll be able to
say, "thank you," without thinking "is there any
other kind.....?"
Most significant lesson I've learned is that it wasn't
Bad Throwing that was causing my problems, but
improper preparation of the clay ball itself BEFORE
I began centering, pulling up etc .... which
left me with uneven amounts of clay on the sides of
my pots although the ball appeared to be centered.....
it WAS centered, but only on the top. I had
blamed my stiff clay, but nope...... there were the
same uneven sides WITH the softer clay...... most
noticeably in the rims.
So many of you seem to trod similar paths that
I thought you might be experiencing my often
unaddressed Centering Problems, also.
Joyce
In the Mojave back doing the Waltz of the Shinos
once again ..... with a bit of Bunny Hop here&there....
after declaring that I would
NOT mix another batch of shino..... anybody's
shino.... for a long, long time. Just can't resist.
I found a list of "things I want to try with
shino....... different shinos..." and that was it.....
the lure of the Bad Boy Shino is still there.
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