Red Deer College

I had a pleasant surprize this evening. While doing a semi-regular check on my blog stats, I discovered some traffic coming from a blog I was previously unaware of. 

http://robinlambert.wordpress.com/

Turns out it was from a ceramics blog at Red Deer College in Albert Canada.

I've just started exploring but it's chock full of interesting assignments and projects, as well as links to other online resources for ceramists and artists.

Even though I've been an IT guy for almost 20 years, sometimes this whole internet thing just amazes me.

Dorodango!

I'd come across this a couple years ago and it just resurfaced again last week on one of my favorite shows, MythBusters.

A common childhood pastime in Japan is making hikaru dorodango, or 'shiny mud balls' by taking a ball of mud and squeezing, packing and smoothing it, gradually drying it out, and slowly adding dry dirt to it, and finally rubbing it to a glossy shine.

The results are nothing short of amazing.

Looking at the process, it seems like what they're ending up with is a packed, smooth ball finished with an outer layer of finely burnished clay particles, probably not far from terra sig.

Image from: http://www.kyokyo-u.ac.jp/youkyou/4/english4.htm , which also has instructions for making one of these little gems.

There is additional information and instructions here:

http://www.dorodango.com/about.html

and at Wikipedia here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorodango

Thinking Creatively

Yesterday I read an interesting article on how to think like Leonardo da Vinci. It really resonated with me and got me thinking about how I could apply it to my pottery.

(I wonder if da Vinci was a potter.... he certainly tried about everything else..... )

I especially liked the points about choosing a theme and observing things in terms of that theme for a day. Also examining your beliefs, seeing if there are any that you haven't actually verified through experience. Then looking for two or three other possible points of view. 

I've found in pottery that what works for one person often doesn't for another, so taking someone's word for it on what is possible or not isn't always accurate. I know a lot of people who throw without a sponge. This just doesn't work for me for whatever reason. Some people throw wet, some throw dry, I kinda fall in between, tending toward dry.

So just don't forget to keep experimenting!  That's what makes it fun anyways, and that's why we do this, right?

The full article is here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Think-Like-Leonardo-Da-Vinci

Seasons and Cycles

I just read a fantastic piece about business cycles and how to look at slowdowns over at Molly Gordon's blog here:  Seasons of Success

I lke her point about if you spend your energy resisting the slow times in 'autumn' you'll be too spent to enjoy the 'spring' when it returns.

Back to work!

It's been a while.

It was 7 weeks last Friday since the accident put me out of the studio. Countless doctor visits, pills, hot soaks, and ice packs later I'm slowly approaching functional.

I finally made it back to the studio yesterday to see what I could do. I'd signed up for a class that starts this week, and wanted to find out if I could do it, or have to cancel. I'm happy to report that I was able to handle the 25# block of clay, wedge, center and throw a couple 2# 'test pots', a bottle and a vase form. Today I'm a bit sore, but no worse than general pottery soreness from not throwing for two months on top of the lingering soreness, if that makes any sense.  I'm hoping the extra activity at this point helps work the knots and cramps out.

It's also been 3 months for the Brian Fields Pottery blog.

I've had nearly 400 unique visitors from 20 countries and 42 states. I have to say, I'm happliy surprized.