My adventures at the wheel are another lesson in making assumptions about activities you’ll enjoy. For the longest time, I’ve had visions of spending my retirement throwing pots and otherwise elbows deep in clay.

The studio I attended for my wheel lessons is a fabulous space and everyone is very lovely, but I found the whole experience very structured, efficient, optimised and, dare I say, ever-so-slightly corporate. They churn through dozens of classes a week – it’s a sizeable operation.

Shortly after my first 3 lessons I bought a pack of 10 practice sessions in a burst of enthusiasm – keen to have a real crack at it. But after 5 sessions and quite a bit of soul searching I donated the remaining 5 back to the studio. I just don’t think it’s the right place for me. I need an older cohort, a slower pace. And honestly I’m now not super-sure pottery is actually for me at all!

After this short dabble, I ended up with 4 pots: threw 5; trimmed and glazed 1 that I didn’t throw (the studio has pots for this purpose); and discarded 2 due to solo trimming failure.

On with the process pix!

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Throwing

My very first pot

My second pots

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Trimming

Second pots

Once your pots are leather dry, take your cylinder, make a foot ring and trim the sides to make a bowl shape. This is quite challenging and all sorts of things can go awry.

when you accidentally dig out a chunk of the rim with your nail (left)

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Glazing

First pots

Glazed before second firing. The glazing recipes are shown on little ceramic cards. The pot on the right is the one I didn’t throw.

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Completed pots

My favourite is the front left from the second set of pots. I don’t love these pots anywhere near as much as Japanese pottery I made last year. I’m still excited about those pieces.

I’m now considering whether to have a crack elsewhere or to abandon the pottery journey entirely. I certainly don’t love it as much as I love making books, or sewing, or concrete, or fuzing glass, or …