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I lost my marbles a long time ago (and I love it!) but I've recently also been a little potty with clay.
If you haven't had a spin on a pottery wheel before, you really should give it a go. I'm a little obsessed with planning things to make. I have a tea pot already, but I want to make one. I already have plates, but I want to make more. Vases, bowls, candle sticks, jugs, life sized statues....you name it.
So far I've made one pot.
My journey is steep haha!
Making my pot
This is where the mess started (eek!)
Here's what happened; my masterpiece...
(photo credit https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/276197389623070534/)
Only kidding, I wasn't too shabby! Check out my concentration face below :)
I'm very lucky to have a fantastic pottery studio in Southampton called My Pottery. They teach you the techniques you need to shape your clay into something marvellous. Imagine the film Ghost but without the sauciness...well at least that's what I told Jamie when I got home ;)
No, honestly though, I was with my mumsie. No sauciness. Absolutely no sauce.
Look at my cute little bowl thingy on the right. I have no idea how I managed this but I'm not complaining.
Painting the pots
This was the bit I was dreading.
Sadly creativity doesn't automatically bless you as an artist. I know a lot of very talented artists and I envy their skills. Having said that, I suppose it is much like my singing. I can't sing in tune but that sure doesn't stop me from doing car karaoke (like a pro) daily. I enjoy how relaxing it is so I won't be stopped.
We arrived at the pottery studio a few weeks after making our pots. This is what they looked like at this point.
Mumsie's at the top, mine at the bottom.
Before we could get started though we had to apologise to the lovely lot at the pottery studio. We were a little late :(
We'd bumped into some Zebras on our journey so our cameras were out in seconds. We were snapping away like keen tourists in our own city. We love creative things like this! My Pottery understood completely, luckily.
It was time to paint!
I knew I wanted a simple pot with a 'cherry blossom tree' theme and my mumsie wanted to write something on her pot about the wonky shape of it.
Things were going to plan.
After finishing the outside I decided that the middle of my pot was too plain. That's where I messed up :(
I did more blossom tree detail inside but used the wrong colour and it looked too dark. Every time I tried to correct it, I kept getting lousy luck. I had splatters of paint in the wrong places and water spilling over my design.
I ended up covering the mess up with a layer of brown. I had to add dots to hide things from underneath. This (on the left) was the best I could make it. Not that I'm at all sad about this experience. I never take it too seriously and it means I HAVE TO go back...soon.
My mumsie did a great job though. I love the light colours and flowers . It reads; "I may not be the prettiest pot on the shelf, but I was made with love". On this shelf her pot wins the pretty contest 100%.
I was just happy it looked somewhat acceptable and hadn't fallen to pieces! It will make a nice jewellery bowl - the more of the inside that I can fill and hide, the better.
We've left them at the pottery studio to be finished off in a kiln. When picking them up I think we'll use it as an excuse to be potty again!
Have you done anything like this before? Let me know on Twitter. I'll share all my favourites. I love seeing your creative crafts (and the cocktails you are drinking while you make them)!
Update! All finished and looking miles better...
And if you were thinking of breaking these fragile pots, you will have to get past this little lady who has decided to guard them haha!
