It Feels Like Goodbye

Good bye, Summer.  I go back to work this week.  It is August, so it's time, but I am still a little sad about the end of having as much time for pottery as I wanted.  Over the past few months, I've spent more time in the studio than ever before. I've learned a few things in the process.  I've shared a lot about what I've learned, but here are a few more items.

First, wear good shoes.  I'd gotten in the habit of wearing whatever worn out, old shoes I had.  The shoe progression has gone like this in the past - running shoes become go-to-the-gym shoes become pottery shoes.  Not anymore!  Standing on those concrete floors is tough on legs and feet.  The days that I lifted (especially leg day), ran, and then worked on pottery for several hours were the hardest. It was hard to do, but I ended up giving myself permission to wear a pair of my "work" shoes to do pottery and my legs and feet were much happier. Keens worked out pretty well for summer time, and I've got an older pair of Danskos that may end up being the winter time go-to shoes.

Second, being the "Uptown Potter" is pretty cool.  You meet the nicest people!  I have really enjoyed giving people directions to the license tag office (after looking it up because I didn't know where it was either), to the nearest branch of the State Employees Credit Union (oh wow, you aren't even close), and to highway 74 bypass (turn left just in front of Wendy's to go west).  People from out of town make day trips to explore Shelby now.  How cool is that??  Seriously though, my location is AWESOME and I am so grateful for the chance to be where I am.  I'm going to miss being there during the day on a regular basis.

Sometimes you re-meet the nicest people too.  I have to share this story because it is too good.  On Saturday, a man came in and asked if it would be ok if he parked a car in the parking lot so it would be easier on his elderly aunt and uncle to get to Shelby Cafe (the street was blocked off from my intersection to the court square for a festival).  He was so thoughtful to ask and seemed like a nice guy taking care of his aunt and uncle, so of course my answer was yes.  Then he introduced himself...I bet hadn't seen Phil Harden since I was about 13.  He was one of the big kids on the swim team when I was a little kid.  Then he helped coach some (I think) when he was in college and I was a not quite as little a kid.  It was a real treat to get to see him again and to get caught up.

Allen called his pottery studio "a happy, busy place" one time.  I am happy to report that it has been just that for me this summer.  Now it's time to figure out how to keep the happy, busy place going while I go back to my "real" job.

Here's what I did when I wasn't visiting with new/old friends this week...

This is the last of the cone 10 clay.

I decided to try "throwing off the hump." When making numerous small pieces, it is a time saver if you can make them out of a single larger lump of clay rather than centering all the little individual pieces.  I tried to make some small bowls.

Centered and opened.

Bowl shape.  The hard part for me is cutting it off the big mound of clay.

Managed to get the first one off OK.  This is what was left.

I got 3 bowls...

And 4 things that didn't make it.  

Clearly that didn't go very well.  I was quite frustrated, so I quit trying.  I know it will take practice, so I'll try again...sometime.  To make myself feel better about things, I ended the week with some pieces that I CAN make relatively consistently.