a new week


I know it hasn't escaped your attention that furrybees has been a little sporadic of late. I must apologise, particularly because I made public my intention to post At Least Three Times a Week. Sigh. I've always wondered at the motivational-speaker-types who suggest that telling someone your goals/plans/intentions will make it more likely that you will do it. Apparently, the subtle fear/shame factor of having others know if you fail is just the motivation you'll need to stick to any goal you make. Funnily enough, this has never worked for me. Bring on the humiliation and public scrutiny of my inadequacies, I say! Okay, so I'm not quite that gung ho about it all (indeed, as a younger woman I could often paralyse myself just by wondering what others might think of me), however, I must have surrounded myself with enough people over the years who are so generous, compassionate, understanding and forgiving that when I don't live up to my highest expectations of myself they are the first to understand why and immediately move to buoy my spirits for another attempt.

Which is why I am apologetic today, but not ashamed. I know my blog readers are just that same calibre of people who understand when a woman's life gets in the road of her blog and who know, with patient assurance, that things will get back on track eventually. Thanks, everyone! You are wonderful.


This week, in celebration of you all and your kindness to me, I'm going to gradually reveal the Best of Pottery Class No. 2, 2009. If you remember, in January I decided to continue my beginner pottery journey by signing up for winter classes. Unfortunately for me, Manitobans don't like leaving their homes during winter and so, with enrolments low, I was placed into an Open Studio class that consisted of many Very Experienced Wheel Throwing Potters and then little old me resplendent in my Fledgling Handbuilding Skills. You may recall my desire to hide under the table in those first days. Well, it didn't get much better after the first week - the people were friendly but not inclusive and the teacher largely ignored me - so I entered what was to become the term's endurance test of Self Motivation and Doggedness in the Face of Difficult Class Conditions.

However, despite these setbacks, I went almost every week, worked a little at home, studied books from the library for ideas and techniques, got a little bit better at skills I already knew and learned lots through trial and error. All, I'm proud to say, was not lost.


After incorporating whatever I could of the fall term's class into the house's rotation of bowls and other receptacles, I knew that, this time, I wanted to make things that would be functional and fill gaps in our existing motley collection of utensils. To that end, I went to work on my pinch pot technique (which one of the library book described as "simple yet humiliating") and pinched up what felt like a veritable extravaganza of, well, Pinched Pots. These are my favourite. Not only are they cute as hell, I'm really happy that the glaze (an awful crap shoot I'll probably whine about later in the week) turned out as it did.


Despite the above shot, they debuted as butter dishes for a dinner party we hosted on the weekend, but I can also see them as dipping bowls for sushi or for other such Asian dipping delights. They are welcome additions to our little home. I only wish I had made more, more, more!

1 comment:

  1. I love how they turned out! And definitely the glaze is the best part. Glaze is such a crazy process -- so much of letting go and trusting.

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