annie singletary ceramics

I’ve been in the studio working.

It’s gotten me thinking about how grateful I am to have space. Space breeds creativity for me. I used to throw pots at the Black Mountain Center Studio and bring them home to alter and finish.

Because I work on my pots so extensively, from altering the thrown form to painting the patterns on, it is just great to not have to take up my entire eating area in my house. I’m sure my husband and son are grateful too.

I’ve got some orders for larger serving pieces for wedding gifts. So I decided to start with large bowls. The bowl is a difficult form to me. I know  a lot of potters find this the easiest, but my professor in college, Meagan Wolfe set such high standards for bowls that I have a hard time.

One high standard: completely smooth inner lining (absolutely no sagging drawers), this bump they call the beginners hump I like to call saggy drawers because it basically is just that, the outer wall not being supported by the clay at the base, so the weight just falls and forms this hump.

After all these years of throwing I still manage to get the occasional bump and so what do I do first in my new studio. Throw my most difficult form thinking that maybe all this space will cure me.

Guess what….I’m not cured because of space, but because of time. Time is awesome. Being able to stay in there and throw and throw until my son wakes up from his nap.

You know what they say, Time

Heals all wounds.

Now, I’m working on doing my altering without disrupting this smooth inner curve.

Splitting the rim and foot are also things I love to do to create this layered look, like the pleats in fabric. This is something I’ve done for a long time. I remember when I learned how to do this when Val Cushing came to visit my school in college.

What a hero.

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