aiming high

Installment three in The Best of Pottery Class No. 2, 2009 is all about the importance of having a vision and then reaching for it. However, before you settle in for a motivating speech about Having A Dream and Seizing The Day, so that we can all march confidently into the weekend ready to Take On The World, relax. Today's lesson is more gentle. I think we'll call it Loving The Results, Regardless.

A case in point.


Early in the term, while I was still determined to make the most of the class despite its challenges, I let a few different ideas roll in. One, inspired by my love of having a Big Fat Cup of Tea, was to make some large teacups for my OTL and I to enjoy our morning cups of tea with. Because I wasn't throwing on the wheel (and thus making nice cylindrical shapes) I had to devise a way of building teacups by hand. Eventually, I lit on the idea of making round boxes with no tops. Like so.



Brilliance always comes at a price, though, and eventually I realised that round boxes with no tops and now with heavy handles would just tip merrily on their sides slooshing the tea all over the morning. So a little stabilizer was conceived.


I loved dreaming these up and working them into reality, however pottery is a humble-making activity and, despite my enthusiasm a number of things went awry in their final realisation. They warped in the kiln and then warped again with the glaze firing, the carefully aligned "stabilizer" on one of them looked like I'd put it on with a blindfold, and the handle completely fell off another. However, despite their wonkiness, despite their lack of symmetry and despite
their quirky nature, I can't help but have a big fat soft spot for them. They represent me Having a Go and Taking a Chance despite complete naivety and inexperience.

They aren't perfect, they aren't very practical, and they are impossible to store anywhere in the house but, nevertheless, they are my round box teacups. Not many people can boast of such a wondrous thing, I do believe.