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| 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.
