Clay has taken over my life!

I am going to say it again… CLAY has taken over my life. I think about it 24 hours a day. I think about it before I go to bed, in the shower, as I fall asleep. I think about it when I wake up in the morning. I’ve never had a “to do list” in my life, but now I have THREE lists tracking the stages and locations of all my on-going clay projects. I can’t flip through a home decorating catalog without focusing on all the ceramic accessories it contains and forgo all the necessary objects I actually DO need for my house. I’ve signed up for a summer class at Glendale Community College, that takes a full semester class and compresses it into a five week, Monday-through Thursday 6-9:30pm session, (yikes…) because I couldn’t imagine being limited to only ONE pottery studio in Burbank for my glazing purposes with a three week summer break (God forbid I actually enjoy the pool we pay for dearly every month). M y husband…shockingly… supports me on this idea (we’ll see how he feels once I actually start taking the class).
What to throw, what size to throw, how to trim, what to add, how to glaze, slips, wax resists, designs, molds…. Ahhhhh make it stop!
Most of my comfortable clothes, that once were presentable enough to wear to the office, now look tattered and faded. Most of the time, I look like I’ve been washed ashore onto an uninhabited island. I am a pretty bad nail bitter, but having my hands in clay all the time and not using lotion, (stupid) I’ve bitten my dry cuticles to shreds. I still resemble a sort of version of myself, but I fear not for long. Hi, my name is Alina and I am a clayaholic…

Testing my limits

When I first started throwing, I wanted to throw as large as possible. I wasn't worried so much about the perfection of the form, but was more preoccupied with it's size. When I got tired of off-center pots, I decided I should work smaller and make my forms more perfect. Light, centered, and perfectly glazed. (Ha!) When I began selling on Etsy, I once again became size conscious for shipping purposes. Throwing items that would fit comfortably in flatrate USPS priority boxes. I was comfortably settled into the 7 inch zone, when I was asked to throw a large porcelain egg vase exceeding 9 inches when fired. I thought, no problem...Right?After my fourth attempt, I was worried. I just couldn’t do it. I went to the studio to get some support from my pottery buddies, covered with clay, and still nothing! I would pull the porcelain up, and the darn thing would slump back down. I went home, hating myself. The next day I decided I had to give it another try, and what do you know, I did it. I threw the 10 ½ inch porcelain Egg so it can shrink down to it’s intended 9 inches. :)