And so did nothing

Today turned out to be a loss as I accidentally turned on HBO Max The Great Pottery Throw Down (which is the Great British Bake Off but not edible) as recommended by my lovely sister susandennis.  

A couple of times in my life I've been a potter and have a love / hate relationship with it.  By far the most complex art form it is actually a dozen forms in every piece of finished pottery and way more than that ways each can go wrong.  It is the only art that I've run across you can spend a week on a piece and be completely done only to have it explode in its final step.  Stupid pottery.

But, if you happen to fight through and get a decent piece out of it someone will invariably say "I saw something just like that at .....   ".  

I've got a couple of bowls sitting around that have survived.  One I use frequently and like, one that recently broke.  But that is out of maybe 500 hours of doing it.  Nothing else was worth keeping (well, not entirely true.. I did give some away).

So watching others go through the same pain is a bit cathartic and it is wonderful to watch someone throwing on the wheel and get to the point they are almost done only to have the clay collapse (soooooo many times I've done that).  

But what they do make... some of it is exquisite.

They are doing raku now which is something I always wanted to try but never did (takes specialized equipment). 

Living vicariously.