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Breakthrough!

Hi!

Most of you will only find this to be nostalgic, but I just had to share. These past couple of days, after finally figuring out how to get things better centered, I have had a huge breakthrough.

I made a lovely bowl from 1.5 kg clay yesterday and turned it today. As I was finishing it off, it broke. Instead of being mad, I was just a little irritated, and told hubby that I could make a new one in no time.

So - I chopped off some clay, which turned out to be 2 kg, kneaded it, centered it and turned it into an even larger bowl - all in about 30 minutes! Whoo hooo! For me, this is great progress, and I feel I can now go from concentrating on centering (though still working on my technique) to concentrating on actual throwing techniques. My centering isn't perfect, but it is WAY better than it was!

Thanks to all of you for your input! I read every single answer and try to remember them as I work with my clay. And they really do help!

Marianne

Reply to
Bubbles
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Congratulations. I remember that moment, it is fantastic! Practise is the thing, but so much more fun when you feel you are actually getting somewhere. Now see how tall you can get a cylinder with the same weight of clay and approx same diameter. After getting it nice and tall and light, you can shape to vases and jugs etc. Good luck. A

Reply to
annemarie

I figured this would be almost every potter's best memory :-)

Yeah - I need go go buy more clay! Haha! I am recycling clay, but have understood that it should lay a while to "get its bearings again" after recycling, so I want to get more "fresh" clay from my supplier.

My dream right now is to manage to make a vase! I really want a tall vase for all the beautiful sunflowers and stuff hubby is bringing home (here in Switzerland, they have cut-your-own-places with lots of wonderful flowers), but the vases I have won't really do, and I refuse to pay a fortune for such a vase when I SHOULD be able to make one myself! A couple of weeks more and I hope I will be able to make a usable one - and in a couple of months, a pretty one! Hehe!

Thanks AnneMarie!!! I am so glad I found this group. You are all so willing to share your expertise and experience! My teacher is wonderful, but I only see her once a week and have to share her with 2-3-4 other students, so I don't always get the time to ask all I want to. And I have so many more questions than "just" about throwing clay. When I rent myself time in her workshop over the winter, I hope to get more tipis from her on the throwing process, if you guys haven't taugh me enough already ;-)

PS - am now teaching myself the usefulness of a rib. My fav at the moment is a rounded wooden one, though I have a soft rubber one that I want to try out as well.

Happy days!

Marianne

Reply to
Bubbles

Isen't it just the coolest thing! Even after years of turning pots, I still think it is magic ;-)

Have Fun!

Sarah

Bubbles wrote:

Reply to
Sarah Hembree

I love those moments. I actually keep having them. Something that I never thought of as being difficult suddenly is just "natural" or "in the zone".... The sweet spots in life! Nice to hear that you got one :)

Reply to
D Kat

Yeah - I love being "in the zone"!

My teacher says she is still learning, though she has tons to teach us semi-newbies. But as she says, there are always new things to learn with this craft.

At the moment - I am learning the basics, but my goodness how fun it is when I get these small breakthroughs!

Besides, my mother was getting a bit tired of getting nut-bowls and is glad I now can make something bigger that can be used for other things than serving nuts! LOL!

Have a great day!

Marianne

Reply to
Bubbles

The only bad 'news' I would share is that you are now hooked... it will never let you go. :) Welcome to the club. Your company will be enjoyed.

Reply to
dkat

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