How Making Pots Has Slowed Me Down
Well it’s been an interesting summer. Shows arranged and subsequently cancelled and mad amounts of visitors to the North Norfolk Coast. It’s been really nice to see people again and chat about my work as well as meeting some customers from two years ago, returning for their holidays after the lockdown of the last year. Some of these were people who bought from me quite some time ago and it’s always nice to know that people are so happy with their purchases of your work that they want to come back for more. Ive been desperately trying to find time for more experimentation but its been so busy lately so I have spent almost every day in the studio working my socks off to keep up with demand. I have been able to squeeze in some throwing in Raku Clay of some lovely large lidded Moroccan style vessels (see picture) which I am very excited to fire as soon as I have a moment and I will post the results. Raku is not something that I’ve ever been particularly enamoured with due to the limitations of functionality and porous nature of the finished article. I am largely a functional potter. I have, however, really enjoyed making these with form in mind rather than function and I hope I don’t mess up the final result in the kiln!
I hope everyone out there is feeling ok and managing with all the uncertainty. I have found enormous comfort in nature during these times of financial and emotional insecurity as I believe many people have. I certainly now find more pleasure in the smallest of things each day than I ever have before. Whether that is Covid related or just age I’m not sure. I have also noticed that this feeling has brought a new substance to my work. Making pottery is a very therapeutic job. To make it for a living it requires careful attention to every detail and following quite repetitive schedules of process that simply cannot be rushed. Before I became a potter I was definitely someone who did everything in a rush. If that IKEA wardrobe needed to be put together I was never one to check the instructions but would pile headlong into it with usually a few random pieces left over at the end. Pottery has slowed me right down and made me almost relish the exacting nature of following a process patiently. I do still panic that I can’t work fast enough to be a real successful business, but the mere action of making myself slowly follow the many steps required to produce quality work that is well made and to constantly perfect my art, has brought a quietness and acceptance to my life that I am very grateful for.
Today I’m waiting for my Gas kiln to finish a large firing and will be uploading some more new stock next week and am really looking forward to showing what Ive been up to. There are a couple of new glazes that I have made from some foraged wood on my local beach which I’m really hoping will work but the nature of this craft is the unpredictability and I am sure there is a lot more testing and tweaking ahead before I find the perfect colour I’m looking for. Look out for my Raku work results in this summers’ blog entries.
Stay safe and enjoy the summer
Kat x
