Monday, July 09, 2012

Clay pots

Yesterday a friend treated me not just to lunch at a Greek restaurant, but to a 90-minute pottery class! I had really been looking forward to the experience at the potter's wheel (fond memories from summer camp years...), and I came away with a fresh appreciation of Jeremiah 18:4:
"Whenever the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, 
the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." 

My first batch of clay was coming along magnificently. Until my fingernail ripped clear through the wall of the up-and-coming pot and destroyed the thing.

Take two (new lump of clay) was off to a slow start, but progressed to about the midway point, when it suddenly began warping between my hands. The whole top ripped off the bottom, putting an end to that project. I tried to do as the potter, shaping it into something else, but once the shape-shifting started, I lost the touch.

Take three (new lump of clay) didn't seem to get "centered" at all. The pottery shop personnel began hovering near my wheel at this point, placing my hands just so and coaxing the clay into cooperation. As soon as we were left unguarded (the clay and I), the pot slid right off the wheel and into oblivion.

Now you have to understand, each participant started off with three lumps of clay. At this point, I needed them to come up with some fresh clay--because part of the "contract" for the class was that you WILL get a finished pot out of the class.

I brought all my determination and focus to take four. The little "tuna can" shaped goal of the first stage of working the clay. The dual thumb action creating the well of the pot and then opening it up (a little wider than I planned); the two handed "lift" to draw the walls upward. The strange lump on the edge that threatened to ruin this try, too, until it was excised by a wire-wielding instructor. And then some finishing with a wet sponge and a sharp-edged curve of wood. And yellow "slip" (which is paint/clay) all around the outside.

In two weeks, I will get a call to pick up my glazed, fired yellow clay pot.

"Whenever the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, 
the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him."

No comments: