New stuff

Every so often, maybe every 4 months or so, I get this hankering to do something new in clay. I think, "it would be fun to do some earthenware", or " I wonder if I can draw on these pots ", or "I want some glazes in my cups that are colorful". It can go on for a while and sometimes I'll try a little this or that and move on. I get it out of my system and go back to making simple, mostly undecorated, salt glazed pots... the pots I love...the pots I was meant to make... the pots I know best.

There has to be something said about going deep into one's work. It's easy in clay to get carried away into a wide stream of doing and trying everything. It's tempting too, there is sooo much out there. I love a lot of it (and hate some of it too), but in the past few years I have become much more open minded about pots and appreciating what other's do. I'm not the 'pottery snob' I used to be. (Not all the time anyway). I see my work best when it is in some setting other than my showroom. I love to go to a friend's house and see my dishes in the cupboard, or better yet on the table full of food. Or often when I set up at a show and see my pots in a new place, I can appreciate their goodness and my hard work.

I am writing this because now is one of those times when I am thinking about trying some new stuff. Just for fun, just to see, it's okay to do that...right? Right. Honestly, thinking about it is more fun that actually doing it. It's hard to switch gears when it's a different firing range, different glazes, different clay, etc. It would be easier just to invade someone's studio and say, "hey can I play with all YOUR stuff for a while?" What I will probably do is think about it for a while longer and then get back to work on my pots, discovering small nuances as I go on making cups and bowls and plates and bakers and all the things that make me happy and flow when I am at the wheel. I want to continue to go deeper with my pots, in a slow bit by bit way, naturally, pot by pot.

Joe Bennion has a nice post up on his Potter's Journal that really speaks to me, it's titled "the P word". Check it out.