I know intellectually it's not true, but I blame the fact that I was very confused during this session on the fact that I was 5 minutes late.
There were clear glazes and colored glazes and for some reason I thought the clear glaze went on first. Later I heard Garnet saying it's better the other way round, but didn't really matter. Hope that's true.
This was the first lesson in which I suspected Garnet might actually be stoned. I was asking him about how to deal with smudged glaze on a rim and he revealed that I shouldn't be putting them on the board upside down. You've been watching me do that for an hour, dude, why wait to tell me?!
Here's something I'll give myself credit for: I wasn't precious. Since you can't know how any of this shit's going to work out you might as well beast in and see what happens.
Well, there we are. I'll get them back next week and try to make sense of it all.
Key Learnings
- turn up on time
- keep asking questions until you actually understand what's happening
- glazing sucks
Preliminary conclusions
In retrospect I have some notions — which may or may not be right — about how I would like to progress with my pottery.
The feedback loop is long
For me the most valuable part of learning is the learning. I know that sounds stupid, but I suppose I mean conscious learning, and I suppose by that I mean control. I feel like there are people for whom doing is the most important part, and others for whom praise or recognition may be the motivating factor. Personally, I want the experience of tackling a problem and overcoming it — cleverly by preference, but if that doesn't work then via perseverance and a systematic approach.
These pottery blocks I've been on really don't optimise for that. I'd do better with something iteratve: throwing one shape over and over. Trimming one shape over and over. Glazing one shape in the most basic way possible.
Overall: FINE
END