Monday, December 26, 2011

The Learning Curve

First attempts

Lately I’ve been thinking about working in clay.  I’d like to experiment with making beads, pendants, plates, bowls, and more.  It’s been a long time since I’ve done ceramic work!  So, I bought a 25-pound bag of white clay and excitedly dug in. 

Oh dear!  It was not as easy as I imagined while lying in bed at 3 am. The clay was mushy and hard to work with.  It stuck to my fingers, cutters and molds. In fact, the “ugly” voice reared its head and repeated, “I hate clay, I hate clay”. I told it to shut up and stepped away for several hours for a trip to the movies and the mall.  I finally returned to the worktable after dinner to a brilliant surprise.  The clay had hardened some and I was able to execute a reasonable amount of control! 

Now, I have renewed faith and will take a stab at it again tomorrow.  If I had given up when it got frustrating, I would have missed out on a fantastic opportunity.  I’m always telling my students to stick with their projects and not give up.  Sometimes a time out is the best medicine. 

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