Friday, April 17, 2009

How do you capture those special moments in clay?

Hopefully you know (remember) what I mean. How do you show someone how completely off-center their clay is? How do you demonstrate that perfect moment when everything lines up and all is well with your throwing? How do you show that even the worst day at the wheel is better than the best day in the office?

Perhaps these images lend a hand.


Dana and I working on what would become one of her best bowls to date. My only wish for our studio is to have a wheel whose height was easily adjustable. Dana needs a wheelhead about 4 inches higher to allower her a more comfortable throwing height.

That feeling of finally NAILING the centering process!! The joy of seeing the clay stop bobbing and weaving!!




What was I just saying about bobbing and weaving? Oh, yeah. Sometimes it's a bugger getting things to go into center.

And then it happens. A light goes on and all is aglow with that awesome feel-good moment of knowing the clay is right where it needs to be.


Justin makes his um-teenth bowl of the afternoon. Once he got the hang of things ZOOOOM ! Out came the bowls and whoosh went the mud!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

before i left my job i had that same mantra which always reminded me of the bumper sticker about fishing... a bad day throwing pots beats the best day at the office instead of a bad day fishing beats a good day at work

Alex Solla said...

Same here. When I left the library job I had at Cornell University, I kept telling myself that ANYTHING here in the studio would be better than my best days in the office. It has been 6 years away from Cornell and things here keep getting better each year. All I can hope for now is that the economy recovers quickly and we can get our feet back under us.

Dana said...

Fantastic pictures. I think Justin will get a lot of mileage out of that zoom technique!

Alex Solla said...

Dana-

Remember: With great zooming technique comes great responsibility! It can only be used for good, never evil.

Dana said...

I make no promises! Mwahahaha!