Grace Sheese

Licia from LiciaBeads wrote a really nice blog post about my work.  Thanks so much Licia!

A few days ago, I wrote about the process of glazing.   Today I have 4 pieces that are my favorites from this firing.

I particularly like how rich the colors of the red bowl looks.

Flowers and foliage really make the vase look complete

The success story for this firing, however, is the 2 jars.

I started making these jars back when we lived in Indiana about 5-6 years ago. I threw these jars as a completely enclosed piece, including the finial. Then I would cut it open to make the lid. I encountered all kinds of problems, from the lid getting fused together during the firing process to the lid and body warping so that the 2 pieces no longer fit together.  I was obssessed with these jars and made a whole bunch of them, only to have them not turn out. In frustration, I set them aside.

Over the years of making pottery, I’ve learned that the importance of “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”.  With the twist that you dont’ try, try now but later.

Usually, when a new idea doesn’t work, I retreat to my comfort zone to make “comfort pots” – pots that I already know how to make.  But the beauty of exploring new ideas is that exploration opens up new thoughts, ideas and solutions that can be applied to the “comfort pots”.  Suddenly, the “comfort pots” have changed, which leads to more new ideas, more exploration, and well, you get the picture.  The whole time this is happening, the failed ideas sit at the back of my mind, patiently waiting until I’m ready to dust them off and give them another try.  This is what happened to these 2 jars.  After patiently waiting for 5 or 6 years for me to figure out how to make them, I have finally succeeded.

Parts of the lid are cut out so that it can double as a vase or candle holder

These 4 pieces along with 6 new pieces are available for purchase at my Etsy shop.  There are also more images of the 4 featured pieces.

For me, glazing is kind of like watching someone getting ready for a really fancy party.  First, you see all the pieces, the dress, the shoes, the accessories etc.  Then there’s the getting hair and make up done and you think, okay, there’s potential but you’re still not totally impressed.  But once everything is all put together, you think Wow!

Glazing is the part where you are still putting the pieces together.  The potential is there but, well, it’s just not qutie done yet.  This is why I still find myself dragging my feet when it’s time to glaze. I look at the pots, waiting for me to glaze them and I think will they turn out?  The fact of the matter is that sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t and that is just part of the whole process.  Since glazing is the last step towards finishing, I feel like, well, if I never glaze, the pots will never have to fail.  But in the end, I always glaze.  It’s all about getting over that mental block and diving right in.  

So here we go…

To me, the firing is the magical part because after about 20 hours in the kiln, the pots are transformed into these durable, beautiful, completed pieces, all thanks to heat and chemistry.

Next up:  the unloading of the kiln.

First, please allow me to share the second stacking jar I’ve been working on all week.  I’m rather proud of this piece.

Front view

Side view

View of slip trailing

Second, here’s been something that I’ve been thinking about all week.  Everytime I watch sports, I’m always astounded by the way the ice skaters fly and spin through the air or the way the gymnsists tumble and turn and do all kinds of crazy things with their body that I could never ever do.  I think how they make it seem so efortless.  The truth is behind each successful spin or turn, there are lots and lots of falls.

This is true for pottery making as well.  At this point, I’ve been working in clay for about 15 years.  I’ve had lots of people comment how quickly I can carve or slip trail something or how I can make everything seem so easy.  Perhaps this is the case but the fact of the matter is, for each successful piece, there is an invisible trail of failed pots.  This invisible trail includes really, really ugly pots, semi ugly pots, beautiful pots that cracked, and everything else in between.

I think it’s easy to forget that I only choose to show the pieces that I think are successful and that to get there, I had to go through lots of unsuccessful pots.  People often ask me how long it takes to finish a piece. While this is a fair question, the answer is actually really complicated.  Should I include all the hours I spent struggling to to learn how to throw on the potter’s wheel?  How about the years it took for me to develop the right glazes that would highlight instead of hide my surface decoration?  What about all the work it took to develop the skills I need to carve straight lines or to slip trail without wobbling?  Let’s not forget the years of searching to find my own voice in clay and then the time it took to develop the ideas from my head into reality.

I think it is important to remember that when you purchase a piece of my pottery, or really, any pieces of artwork in any medium, you are not only paying for the time, material and creativity to create that particular piece but all the years of experience and experimenting it took to get there.

Below are some pictures of all the failed pots from my studio.  There are now 3 different piles and I’m beginning to run out of room so I’ll soon need to do a major spring cleaning.  But, I like to keep some failed pots around to remind me of where I started, how far I’ve come and how much more I’ve got to go.

Pile 1 of unsucessful pots under my work table

Another pile of unsucessful pots on the other side of the table

Third pile of rejected pots under another work table