Pottery
I began making pottery at a city Arts and Recreation center, and enjoyed it so much that I later bought my own wheel to use at home. Pottery is a "zen" activity for me, at least the forming it from clay part. I can work with no thoughts of things I worry about, no sense of "hurry, hurry" intrude if I am working with the raw clay.
I normally make things that have a useful purpose like holding food or drink, but sometimes it is just for the pleasure of shaping the clay a certain way. If you don't mind getting a bit messy, pottery may be for you too!
pieces for BOC donation contest with the Florida Glass Dragons group
A gift for an online friend who wanted a cereal bowl in these colors
Raku fired, decorative only
Making a yarn bowl.
The bowl was thrown on the pottery wheel, allowed to sit and begin to dry out, bottom cleaned up after it dried to leather hard, then a decorative slot cut in for the yard to slide into and keep the ball from rolling around.
My first attempt at a yarn bowl
And why it was a fail. No way the yarn was going to slide through that slot! Someone wanted it anyway, so it lives at a friend's house now.
Trimming the excess clay from the bottom
Trimming the bottom of the piece can be important to the look and feel of a piece of functional pottery. Some people don't enjoy it, but I usually do - unless on the rare occasion that I make an "oops!" that ruins my piece of course!