Practice, practice, practice, &*#$%ing practice.

The coffee mugs above are the first attempt at getting a certain shape I happen to love, which is proving significantly more difficult to produce than I had initially thought. I should also take this time to mention that the fastest way to get me agitated in the studio is put pulling handles (or rather, more specifically, attaching said handles to the bodies of the mugs) on my to do list. The only way to improve is to practice, but that doesn't mean it is always fun, sun, and dancing bears. 

In other news I finished trimming and shaping the bowls from last week. I'm really pleased with them. They're safely bone dry and awaiting a bisque firing. 

And now back to the notion of practice making perfect. Some days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week) I find it just damn difficult to really get into the swing of the studio. This usually means my work goes a little off center and I get frustrated and then (if it's bad enough) scrap the jerk to be wedged and reworked when I am more centered myself. I am always worried about the little details of my work, and remember from my single ceramics class that you can learn a lot from cutting practice work in half to see if your interior walls are even, or if there is a huge honk'n base hiding behind that nice shape your brain tricks you into thinking you've just pulled. So, the off center work from my afternoon was drawn and quartered in the name of ceramic science, and better future generations of tea bowls and whiskey glasses. 

Frustrations aside, any and all practice is good. Repetition is how we learn. Every day is a fresh chance to improve upon the last. Have a great weekend folks. See you on Monday with some more old work.