No trip to Otaru is complete without a stroll through the glassware studios and stores, This is probably the third, and maybe the fourth, times our family have visited Otaru. We booked a wheel pottery workshop, instead of glass blowing craft class.
The joy of ceramics, as mentioned by Florence St. George in her postnatal depression story The Potter's Way, is getting more down to earth with clay. The whoosh of feel-good connection with the motion of rolling is calming and soothing. We learn to get the hang of pottery technique: centring the clay on the wheel, catching up with the wheel, letting go at the right moment. The motion of rolling, as we were taught, should be hard enough for the clay to listen to us, but soft enough so that it doesn't fly off the wheel like a frisbee.
Making the pot at breakneck speed and air bubble can get trapped in the clay. When it goes into the kiln, it could crack, break or explode.
Nine times out of ten my pot didn't work out. That's fine, as the experience is to restore balance with a lump of clay, and find solace in the therapeutic touch of clay.
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