Voila - and then there was a coffee mug!

I made my first coffee mug in pottery class today and needless to say, I am quite ecstatic about it. Not knowing what to expect when I showed up for my first ever pottery class a couple weeks ago, I was not prepared for how much skill and effort, not to mention patience, is required to make a symmetrical shape on the potter's wheel. I realized quickly enough how difficult it is to make the clay stick to the center of the wheel without it moving. But once it is set, the fun creative process begins. This is when the shape of whatever it is you are trying to make, starts to take life. A lot of cajoling and coaxing is needed to make the clay take shape but when it does, all I can say is - wow! The right amount of pressure and aligning the fingers properly is key to molding the clay. Looking at the teacher make a coffee mug so effortlessly, I felt quite the fool when I could not even move to the next step without getting assistance.

It took me an entire class to get the hand eye co-ordination going. Between making sure the wheel is turning at a particular speed, centering the clay and then shaping, it is quite an endevor. You get to a point where you just have to stop molding the clay because there is a very high possibility of it collapsing since its gotten thin. The objective is to achieve the desired shape before this happens. Sounds simple enough but its easier said than done! Even though I got the clay centered and it started to take shape, to make it cylindrical was so frustrating! The natural tendency of clay on the wheel is to go outwards and downwards.

I was one of the two beginners this session and to see people all around me making beautiful vases or bowls so easily was quite discouraging. However, I was more in tune with the wheel and clay today. While applying pressure to make the clay take shape, I was getting the hang of it and with some assistance from the teacher, I was on my way to making a decent looking coffee mug. The first try kinda went kaput but with the second try, success at last! There is still a lot of work left - need to fix a handle, glaze and fire it but I have taken a step towards actually making something out of a mound of clay. For two hours, all thoughts go out of my mind except that I need to shape the clay correctly.

The creative process makes for a nice high I must say. My respect for artists back home who use a potter's wheel (turned by hand no less) has gone up ten fold. Who would have thought that an inanimate mound of clay would turn into a beautiful piece of art that can take shape even in amateur hands like mine! Who knows what I will end up making next week.

This quote sums up my thoughts succinctly - Said one among them:
"Surely not in vain
My substance of the common Earth was ta'en
And to this Figure moulded, to be broke,
Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."
- Omar Khayyam ("The Tent-Maker"), The Rubaiyat (st. 84)