So you want to be loose?

I don't think I'm very loose actually. People tell me I am but I don't see it actually. Today I told Dan I was going to tackle a coupe of sectional pots that I would be really invested in. The studio was empty today except for me and I was firing the electric reduction kiln and I was up and down like a toilet seat all day fiddling with it. I started some sections and scrapped them since I knew I was not in the zone. Dan and I have lots to do to get ready for a groundhog firing, a lecture and a workshop so I didn't want to have stuff to deal with. I threw some plates and bowls and dealt with them fresh off the wheel. It is impossible to be tight if you deal with clay fresh off the wheel.
I was also thinking about my doing my ole buddy Grass Hopper's eulogy at Nceca this year
and I was all into "Making Marks". For my money that was his best book of many gooduns.  On Instrgam today a good potter said he felt like he had a stick shoved up his arse after looking at my pots. I think it is a wise thing to shove a stick up your arse in the beginning and get it in there as tight as you can. Then after several years of pain you can pull it out and it will feel so good and your arse will be loose as a goose.
The Starworks  Dark Wild is not a clay for the weak at heart. You must deal with it when it wants to be dealt with. I have found the wetter the better so this immediate approach to clay is good for me and Dark Star.

Comments

smartcat said…
Now I wish I could be at NCECA to hear your eulogy everybody’s favorite grasshopper. Toes crossed that it will be available somewhere on line.
‘Making Marks’ is not only IMHO Grass’s best book ever, but the best ever written on the subject. I am still surprised that there are huge numbers of people who have never heard of it.

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