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Wheel Throwing Progress


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This picture makes me so happy that I wanted to share it. 

I started learning to throw last October. It was a very, very bumpy road and I didn't start having things to keep until mid-February. I almost gave up. To be honest, I did give up, for weeks at a time, but fortunately kept going back to it. 

The pitcher on the left is one of my very first "keepers", a little mug that I knocked against and decided to turn into a cream pitcher. It's one of my first attached handles, beginner slip trailing, the whole nine yards. 

The pitcher on the right was made about six months later. It's a pitcher because that's what I decided to make, not a mistake. I deliberately decorated and glazed it similar to the other one because I wanted to see them side by side like this. 

In every aspect of these two pieces, from the throwing, to trimming, the handles, decoration and even the glazing, I can see how much I've learned in less than a year. I can't wait to see what happens in another year! Maybe I'll be making pots that levitate or are invisible or something. Who knows. ;) 
 

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So now I'm feeling like a total failure.  Both you and ronfire seem to have taken a few months to achieve what took me several years.  Granted, much of that time included only once a week classes.  Ah well, we all struggle at our own pace.

 

I think you should be extremely proud of your progress.  Well done!

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Well done Giselle.

 

 

So now I'm feeling like a total failure.  Both you and ronfire seem to have taken a few months to achieve what took me several years.  Granted, much of that time included only once a week classes.  Ah well, we all struggle at our own pace.

 

I think you should be extremely proud of your progress.  Well done!

 

Doris - It's taken me several years, and I still can't throw properly.  Like you, the once a week is a struggle.  Keep at it, one day we'll both be as good as Giselle.

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So now I'm feeling like a total failure.  Both you and ronfire seem to have taken a few months to achieve what took me several years.  Granted, much of that time included only once a week classes.  Ah well, we all struggle at our own pace.

 

I think you should be extremely proud of your progress.  Well done!

 

 

Well done Giselle.

 

 

So now I'm feeling like a total failure.  Both you and ronfire seem to have taken a few months to achieve what took me several years.  Granted, much of that time included only once a week classes.  Ah well, we all struggle at our own pace.

 

I think you should be extremely proud of your progress.  Well done!

 

Doris - It's taken me several years, and I still can't throw properly.  Like you, the once a week is a struggle.  Keep at it, one day we'll both be as good as Giselle.

 

 

Oh, no! I don't want anybody to feel that way from this post! :(

 

I wanted to be instantly perfect at this so badly that when it was a struggle I wanted to give up so much. I think that sticking with something that you want to learn even when you're not getting the results right away takes a lot of determination. I just wanted to throw in the towel many times. Please keep on with it! It's my goal to find the fun even when I collapse or gouge something. Which I still do, at least 20% of the time. More if it's not the right day for me. Whenever I want to try a new form I look on YouTube and watch two or three different potters make it or something like it. Then I go out and try it. Sometimes first try is a success. More often, it's not. I have reclaimed probably 80 lbs of clay this year. 

 

I have a wheel in my garage (thank you, Dad!) that I can use any time I want. In addition, though I just started wheel throwing about a year ago, I've wanted to try wheel throwing for almost four years now. I've watched hours upon hours of videos and anytime I visited my friend's studio I would watch her throwing as well, peppering her with questions.

 

Remember that as a rule you'll only see people's successes on here. I have a video of me collapsing pot after pot, and scraping them off the wheel, maybe I should post that for encouragement to other beginners! 

 

Thank you, Chilly! 

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very nice!  i like the lift to the newer handle.  it says, arent't i something?

 

Hee hee. It's a bit cheeky perhaps. I love making these little pitchers because my normal worry over making the handle balanced is not as great. I can use a ribbon tool and just cut a strip and stick it on. One finger handles are fine because it's not going to be held very much so comfort isn't a huge issue. :) 

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Everyone progresses at there own rate. I think a lot depends on what you do besides the pottery. If you do a lot of work with your hands building things it sure helps. I have always been building things since I could hold a hammer, pottery was new to me but I was good with my hands.  Learned by watching some videos on line and then went out and played. Some classes would have been helpful but there are none close by. The videos and this forum have been a GREAT source of learning. Fortunately for me my wife does the artwork on the pieces, something I am bad at, can't draw a stick horse. 

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"I wanted to be instantly perfect at this so badly that when it was a struggle I wanted to give up so much. I think that sticking with something that you want to learn even when you're not getting the results right away takes a lot of determination. I just wanted to throw in the towel many times. Please keep on with it! It's my goal to find the fun even when I collapse or gouge something."

 

No worries!  Giving up was never an option.  Every failure just made me more determined.  Also, I really just think of it as a never ending journey.  There is no true destination, just continuous milestones.

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No worries!  Giving up was never an option.  Every failure just made me more determined.  Also, I really just think of it as a never ending journey.  There is no true destination, just continuous milestones.

 

Yes, I love this! The important thing is to be working toward something new always so you never get stuck and stagnate. :) 

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Videos of people's failures would be very useful-seeing others mistakes can show you more than watching them work perfectly. In general we have tried to shelter folks from failure so much that working past disappointment is very hard for them.

 

Ohhh I'll work up my courage. I have lots and lots of flop videos. LOL I hide them away and pretend they never happened, but what art has a 0% failure rate? I suppose Michaelangelo just climbed out of his cradle one day and started painting masterpieces, right? 

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