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Saturday, October 22, 2022

Happy Potters

You may recall (or not) that my last post was 5-1/2 months ago but life happens and it's easy to get sidetracked!  Just dangle something that shimmers and shines in front of me and I'm off!  😁  

I really enjoy blogging though so I'm going to try my very best to post regularly on this blog (or my other one, Smiles For Many Miles,) at least every week or two in the future.  

~ A Pottery Class ~

Our new home is located in a 55+ community that offers a huge amount of events and activities.  Pottery is offered so Hubby Geo and I signed up to take it.  There was a waiting list but after about six months, we were happy to finally get the call.  

To start, we had to commit to a three-week, morning class, twice a week to learn the basics of pottery making, as well as where supplies are located, where in-progress pieces are stored, and the like.  

Once the class ends, we're on our own to come and go as we please, and make anything our little hearts desire, but only on Mondays and/or Thursdays as those are the days when the room is reserved for the Happy Potter's group.  Yes, that's our name! 

~ Happy Potters' Pottery Class ~

Day 1:  
The project was about 
pinching clay to create a Pinch Pot
 (no pics yet)

Day 2:  
We made a bowl.
Bowl-making George.
My attempt at it.

Day 3:  
We made a plate 
(no pics yet)  

Day 4:  
We started on a vessel.  
It is, by far, my favorite project 
although it is the most challenging! 
There were six students and we're working on our vessels. 

The vessel class ended up requiring that we return in the afternoon and on the following morning.  Unfortunately, we had to miss class the next day due to an unplanned vet trip as one of our sweet canine owners was not feeling well.  

~ The Solo Duo ~

This coming Monday, Geo and I will make up the vessel class that we missed.  Normally, we would have an instructor there to help us out but our three instructors and some of the other Happy Potters (16 total) are attending the 30th Annual Texas Clay Festival this weekend in the historic district of Greune, Texas.  Good for them!  It sounds like a fun time, and might be an event we'd want to attend in the future.  As a bonus, Greune is a super cool and small Texas town.  They will undoubtedly have a grand time! 

With everyone gone, that means we'll be on our own on Monday...
alone...
all by ourselves, 
unsupervised, 
unaccompanied, 
unguarded, 
uncontrolled, 
undisciplined, 
uncertain, 
unbeknownst, 
possibly unhinged 
and 
hopefully uncut!  

I'm sure many other "uns" would apply as well. In fact, there could be more in this very blog post. Consider yourself warned!

So Geo and I will be a solo duo, and there's no telling what kind of a clay frenzy we could get into!  Ah, but clay frenzies are merely a normal part of life.  

Aren't they?  
No, wait!  
Perhaps I'm thinking of 
Yeah, that's it!  
So never mind.

~ The Last Classes~

We have one more project class next week, not counting this upcoming, unpredictable Monday.  (Whoops, I warned you there might be more.)  After that, our final class (at least I think it's the final one) isn't until November 14th!  That's when we'll learn glazing and I'm guessing we'll glaze all of our pieces at that time.  I'll be curious to see the end results!  

Even though the learning part of the class will be over, we're supposed to take a couple of field trips--one to a pottery supplier and the other to learn Raku, a process where pieces are taken from the red hot kiln and thrown into organic materials that will catch fire like sawdust and newspaper.  Our instructors mentioned they use horse hair.  It should be interesting!  

~  Funky Pottery Ahead?  ~

Maybe so.  

I do not think that pottery making is a craft that I will heavily pursue (I still adore fabric & paint), however, I think I would enjoy making funky pieces like the one below.

I don't know whose it is but it's not from our class.  It was sitting on a shelf behind me and I love it!   

In the past, I have seen some pretty cool, funky pieces on display in the hallway display window, and loved every one of them!  I may just have to give funky a whirl every now and then.  Wonky & catawampus are right up my alley!  No rules baby!  Well... not too many anyway.

Tootles Y'all!
Donna