Lessons in the Clay
Clay can teach you some lessons.
When we started our Wheel Throwing journey in 2020, we were just looking for something to do with our time like everyone else.
Unbeknownst to us, we were entering a huge new chapter in our life. Like casually crossing a life-changing door (it's funny how small decisions can pivot the direction of your life). We slowly got addicted to the excitement of discovering new steps, new techniques, new types of clays and glaze colors - all of the endless possibilities to create. However, it wasn't easy.
Clay is humbling, a great teacher. Read our thoughts on the most valuable life lessons, analogies, practices and metaphors we have discovered in our 5 year love affair with Ceramics -
1. Do it slow and with intention - through trial and error, we learned that if you get on the wheel only to chase a result, trying to rush through the steps just to get to the outcome - your results will show that.
2. Don't skip the basics - like centering. Cutting corners and avoiding the hard parts, creates trouble down the line. In clay - and unfortunately in life - you gotta try to do each step right. Like centering, (which took us weeks to finally master on the wheel) if you don't center your piece of clay to the wheel, your whole vessel will be uneven -- though that leads to:
3. Perfect isn't a requirement. In ceramics, once you've accepted imperfection because you've realized how (almost) impossible it is to make 'a perfect piece', you begin to appreciate the little quirks, hand-made touches that make your piece uniquely yours. Made by your hands, with your creativity.
Lessons in the practice
Clay is humbling, a great teacher.
4. Knowing when to stop - this is a crucial practice for the type A perfectionists out there. We fell for this trap a lot of times at first. Trying and trying to work the clay to make the piece better, only to realize that if you overwork the clay it will give in, and you will probably regret that you didn't stop at an earlier point when your piece was probably 'good enough'.
5. No attachments - at first we were quite obsessed with every little trinket, every little piece of our first 'collection' but after having grown one of the largest producing studios in Miami, processing thousands of pieces a week - we started to realize what was really valuable: the process, not the pieces. Many of the pieces we or our students made, didn't really have a purpose to be fired to just take space on a shelf. Instead, we recycled any piece (no matter how much effort it had taken on the wheel) that we didn't care or have a use for - and that felt great. Attaching to something just because you spent time making it, felt like a heavy load - an unnecessary commitment. The real value was the time spent away from screens, learning a new skill, getting better just by practicing. We started appreciating more the 'doing something' part for the sake of it rather than for 'a result'.
6. Everything can have a purpose, but also, it doesn't need to. This one is a little tricky. In growing our art studio, we realize how the most random materials (like cutout pieces of amazon delivery cardboard boxes) can be used for collages in our ART CAFÉ, but at the same time, keeping our space organized and simple helps keep our mind calm — so hoarding is not an option. With Clay, recycling or repurposing left over clay is a beautiful way to reduce waste, but it is also extremely physically taxing — so sometimes we have to choose our backs over our thriftiness - and that is also ok. Not everything has to mean something or have a purpose to matter, we do what we can with what we have and that is enough.
So, if you are looking for something to fully immerse yourself and your mind into, something that - if you allow it - will help you how find your flow, your center, and will very likely improve your patience (with yourself and others), then perhaps trying one of our wheel throwing beginner classes might be just the right move.
Join one of our Wheel Throwing Beginners classes next week. Ticket includes a 2 hour intro lesson to the wheel, all materials and tools. Firing is optional at the end -