Tunnel vision

Father's day on the lake. Don't mind if I do. 

First go at it

One of my first pieces. I started out with more clay than that. :)

Week 1 of pottery class: Wedging and cylinders.

The first class, we learned how to wedge. I thought this consisted of cutting the clay in little wedges. That makes sense right? You can tell I did a lot of research before starting the class.
Wedging is sort of like kneading dough, really dense and hard dough. I hadn't quite gotten the rhythm down yet and made it harder than it should have been ( I have now learned). We had to wedge for about 2 hours straight and I was seriously sweating. On my way home I tried to scratch my head and was surprised that my fingers just wouldn't do it! Trying to type and use my hands at work the next day was near to impossible. My hands would enter into a full out shake.

The three top pictures are my first attempts at pulling a cylinder. These have only been fired, not glazed. The fact that they didn't blow up in the kiln is a good start.

The picture just below are pieces done by those that use the studio, not mine.

  

Short trip home after pottery open studio today. Had a mini photo shoot with my niece, Claire. She is too cute. 

Let's begin

This post is long over due. Better late than never right?

When I first decided to do this project, I knew that pottery would be on the list. And when I first saw someone on the wheel, I was immediately drawn to it and wanted to be a part of that world. I think it is just mesmerizing! I searched online for pottery classes and the first to pop up was at the EAC Pottery Studio. I had no idea this existed and so close, who knew?! It is a six week course, two days a week, and the classes last for three hours. Sure it is a commitment but I didn't think twice. This kind of set the two month timeline for the project. It gave me enough time to learn and to continue to use what I learn for a few more weeks.

After that fell into my lap, other things began to come up too. I first happened upon the Create and Connect Project, an awesome collaboration of two girls who seriously know how to turn their passion into profit and choose to share that with others. After obsessing over that for a few days, my husband and I were taking a Sunday drive, we heard an interview with Eric Maisel, author of Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsession and it was super interesting! It was like a light bulb went off in my head! (Is that the right expression?) I saw and heard various other things, all within the course of one week,  that just seemed to pump me up even more.

So here I am, in the thick of pottery class and loving it (I think it will be super hard to take a break from it after two months!) I am knew to the blog world, as far as writing one goes, and I am in dire need to brush up on my photography skills. It is a learning process all around.

More to come in the near future on what the heck I am doing in pottery class! Have a fantastic weekend!

Stamping set on its way!

(source: EviesToolEmporium)

I just ordered this metal stamping set and I am super excited!

(source: PoppyTalk)

I first saw them on PoppyTalk in a great gift tag tutorial (which I am so doing). But what I am most excited about is seeing how they look on the little pottery pieces I am making. It even comes with a tiny little ampersand. 

(source: PoppyTalk)

Wouldn't you love getting this with a gift??