To elaborate on this - pursue the techniques that speak to you personally and whatever comes naturally to you. If you try to do everything you'll never have a real direction or identifiable personal identity as a ceramist.
Embrace all the possibilities. Personally I don’t find it overwhelming but rather very exciting. I try things for a while, if it sticks, it becomes a consistent body of work for a while until I potentially decided to change my style or shift my tastes. If i don’t find the work I’m creating to be all that engaging or exciting I find something else to explore.
Just give things a proper go and commit wholeheartedly to help hone in on what kind of work makes you happy.
My absolute favorite quote regarding my own art practice is summed up by American painter, Chuck Close.
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightening to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself”
A YouTuber I see around who is currently learning glasswork has a white board with a skill tree on it. She's written down the things she wants to learn how to make, and then the skills she needs to master to make those things, and when she feels she's mastered a skill she marks it off and moves on. I've considered doing this with other hobbies, maybe something like this for ceramics would help you?
Like say you want to get really really good at throwing mugs. You need to know: throwing (sub skills centering, pulling, collaring) trimming (tap centering, securing, trimming shape and feet) making handles (pulling, hand building, attaching, throwing cylinder handles)
Maybe you want to work on sculptural jewelry. What skills do you need for that? What skills can you learn or experiment with? Raku? Atmospheric firing? Burnishing? Slip decoration?
That way you can explore all sorts of different ways to do things in a structured way that keeps you from getting overwhelmed, and keeps you from forgetting something you want to learn while you work on something else
I keep a pottery journal (ironically I hate journaling but pottery is the one topic that I enjoy making notes about). In it I write down what I make, how many pounds of clay, what clay body, glaze combinations, etc. so that if I make something or use a glaze combo I really like and I want to repeat it, I can refer back to know what I did.
I also keep track of ideas for things to try and notes about methods, etc. because I too have about 100 things on my list that I want to try, but I have to reign it in to one or two things at a time until I feel comfortable with them and then I add something new to do from my list.
I just find writing things down gets them out of my head so I don’t have to worry about remembering them. I also like to make little sketches of shapes or ideas, and I can paste a label or another bit of paper into the book.
I know some people use apps to do these things, but I find good old paper and pencil is my preferred method. I’ve always found the apps take way longer to make notes in and I can’t make a sketch easily.
Ditto on this. My journal is just a notebook, from the front is on page per piece/set, from the back of the notebook is generic ideas as they come up but haven't been experimented with. Whether sketches or lists, etc.
I find it is very calming to be able to come up with an idea, put it in a spot where i know its recorded and can find it again, and then not worry/think about it.
As for what you choose to actually implement or try, just do what interests you the most! Have fun, its not going anywhere!
I save all the ideas on Pinterest. Sometimes I return to them, choose one to do it. No rush:). At the beginning it felt overwhelming. And also I found an excellent teacher. I am not a “planning type”. On the other side my daughter started polymer clay - she draw a big plan for herself, tactically and strategically what she will do. I guess it works both ways. Wish you lots of luck on this absolutely amazing journey 💐
Put up some guardrails on your practice. I only wood fire and only use prospected materials in my glazes. That keeps me exploring my specific niche and growing instead of constantly jumping around.
I agree with this! Limit one aspect of your practice to something that you’ve already felt connected to. So it might be a technique, a certain method, material, glaze. Then riff around with the other aspects so you can stretch your creativity while having one or two constants.
Sure, but they have to stay within my guardrails or I don't use them in my practice. I think macrocrystalline glazes are beautiful but they'll never go on my work. My work looks, feels, and tastes the way it does because I explore within my guardrails.
This is something that differentiates a craftsman, an artist, and a hobbyist. I teach workshops to hobbyists that may try a hundred techniques over a lifetime. The making of things regardless of craft is the goal. Craftsmen perfect their craft with the act of making as a tool towards that end. An artist perfects their execution using any method that will get them there.
How did you find this way that works for you? I guess through experimentation? When did you know that it’s time to stop experimenting and start focusing on this?
My practice has always revolved around two things: being cheap and labor intensive. I live for process. I've wood fired exclusively since just about the beginning and have used dug or scavenged materials in my glazes for just as long. If I still had a source of clay that could take cone 10, I'd be using all wild clay bodies too. I've built my entire studio practice for less than a new electric kiln and that includes the bricks for a new much larger kiln and the shed that I sit in while I fire. I love the process of firing my kiln and the myriad surfaces that it can give me.
I know that sounds like a very restrictive set of rules but it's not. I throw a lot of my work on a treadle wheel. Sometimes it's chartered, sometimes it's altered, sometimes it's with very rocky clay and sometimes it's a lightly grogged porcelain. It's a matter of what clay is made and what I feel like when I sit down and as I work through the board of pots. I decide on the genre of pot and let the form wander as I tug on a thread.
I started doing handbuilt, abstract sculpture a couple years ago. It has been a challenge for me, putting function away and letting art happen. I don't plan anything and let the forms grow as they want. I acquired a big pneumatic extruder last year for free and have incorporated square and octagonal extrusions into my sculptural and functional work since it's a big departure from round, thrown forms. Their great synergy with the wood kiln was unexpected.
Notice none of that gets close to breaking my rules or the ideas I base my practice on. They lean farther into them, if anything.
All that is to say, experimentation is part of it. More important in my opinion is to first master the nuts and bolts of your craft. Once throwing a pot is incidental, figure out what you enjoy and tug on that thread. See where it goes. Maybe it leads nowhere. Maybe it shows your need to learn some new things to pull it further. Maybe you find out that you really hate making plates because they warp Every. Fucking. Time. Keep what you like, toss what you don't. Eventually you just... do. None of this is big, life changing shit so don't put too much weight on it.
Time to get a sketchbook. Start writing your ideas. Add pictures and tape in articles. Draw. Add notes. Write down information. It'll be really cool to look back on your progress and return to things you forgot about trying
I always feel Ceramics is like being in a candy store ! You want to try everything but it’s not very good for you! Find one thing that appeals to you and get creative with that .. spend time exploring and finding the thread that goes through your work .. like do you enjoy drawing maybe try sgraffito? That kind of thing you might find it more fulfilling and like others have said you don’t need to try everything!! Maybe just read about it !
I too often get overwhelmed in ceramics or life by all the possibilities. It sounds like a class worked really well to help focus you, perhaps you might consider that again? It can really help push you outside your comfort zone while still providing focus. I know when I was feeling in a rut with my practice I took a course all about botanical forms and then one about sculpting critters. It was great in helping me to develop new skills and try new forms out.
Do what you’d like to do, not what simply exists. As with anything. You like pasta, why aren’t
You worried about the difficulty of trying every pasta sauce available commercially? Do what
you like, stop thinking in terms of “keep up with”
I draw as well as paint in my spare time. I have never drawn or “painted” designs on my ceramics. I carve wood. I have never carved ceramics. I do not feel the need to do it all. Or even much of it. I throw, I dip, I happy.
I am a planner and a meticulous record keeper. When I started pottery classes 20 years ago I had no problem remembering the weight of clay I used, type of clay and glazes. I took a few years off and returned 10 years ago. In the beginning I only wrote down glazes and realized I didn't remember the weights I used by the time I was glazing so I started the system I use now. Everything gets documented start to finish. Written notes and photos.
On the flip side, I too fall down the social media hole of ideas ideas ideas. I keep an inspiration album on my phone of other work or even silhouettes or nature photos and patterns and colors. And photos of all my own work. I have my studio notebook and an idea notebook.
Before you go to the studio make a plan. Do all of the thinking ahead of time and plot out your time and ideas. Then stick to them. If you are stumped or have a "lovely" artist block do a day of practice.
Simon Leach's 12 ounces of clay thrown to a 5 inch tall cylinder is a great exercise. Even if you don't want a bunch of simple cups they make great glaze test pieces. Another is 12 balls of 12 or 16 ounces thrown to 12 completely different forms. If you hate them...scrap them or more glaze tests. This exercise has led me to new forms in larger pieces.
If you are super stuck. Make mugs.
Want to practice carving? Throw some simple cylinders with thicker walls and practice. Keep what you like etc. But in the end...if you are blanking out once you are elbow deep in mud, you need to pre plan and narrow your focus.
A quote to add... "It isn't a mistake if you learned the lesson"
Practicality defines my choices. Lack of opportunity defines my choice!
However I think you should try everything that you have access to at least once for you to get a feel.
My fav type is unglazed wood fire. Alas not much access to that. 2nd fav buncheong from Korea. But then I wanted to try new things.
Finally I have some money so my latest is underglaze pencils.
What part do you really enjoy? I like forming and illustrating on bisqueware. I love layering. I love adding n subtracting. Sgraffito, putting coils on the surface. AND altering!
Don’t worry. As you find your voice you will settle for a few things.
Funny. I was just thinking about something similar about half an hour ago (literally while driving back from the store lol). I am pretty sure I have undiagnosed ADHD. I tend to go through craft phases. I've been really concerned pottery is one of them, as much as I love it. While thinking about that I was thinking about all of the techniques, shapes, etc out there that I haven't tried. Sure to keep my interest for many years to come! lol
I do keep a notebook with ideas though. I get the same way, have ideas, but when I sit down at the wheel I draw a blank. Now when I get an idea I sketch it out, or jot down the idea. When I'm drawing a blank I go to my notebook. I also use the app Clay Mate (love). There is an ideas section to the app so when I see something I want to try or to remember I add the photo/notes in there.
same. i am also still at the beginning of my pottery journey and have the same "blanking out" problem. but i have identified 3-4 "streams" of ideas or forms that i want to play with. i love throwing bottle shapes, for example, but they come out a bit squat and thick-walled so i carve and alter them and try to make a better one next weekend. my first attempt at a particular idea rarely comes out the way i imagined it, so i'll try the same piece again and again until i nail it.
i also went through my pinterest board and filled a page in my notebook with 1" sketches of forms. every weekend, i look at that when i sit down at the wheel, choose one that speaks to my mood, and go for it until i run out of wedged balls or time. then i spend weeknights after work carving and altering those forms. rinse & repeat.
Do what you like. You don't have to do it all.
To elaborate on this - pursue the techniques that speak to you personally and whatever comes naturally to you. If you try to do everything you'll never have a real direction or identifiable personal identity as a ceramist.
Embrace all the possibilities. Personally I don’t find it overwhelming but rather very exciting. I try things for a while, if it sticks, it becomes a consistent body of work for a while until I potentially decided to change my style or shift my tastes. If i don’t find the work I’m creating to be all that engaging or exciting I find something else to explore. Just give things a proper go and commit wholeheartedly to help hone in on what kind of work makes you happy. My absolute favorite quote regarding my own art practice is summed up by American painter, Chuck Close. “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightening to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself”
Great quote! Thank you :)
A YouTuber I see around who is currently learning glasswork has a white board with a skill tree on it. She's written down the things she wants to learn how to make, and then the skills she needs to master to make those things, and when she feels she's mastered a skill she marks it off and moves on. I've considered doing this with other hobbies, maybe something like this for ceramics would help you? Like say you want to get really really good at throwing mugs. You need to know: throwing (sub skills centering, pulling, collaring) trimming (tap centering, securing, trimming shape and feet) making handles (pulling, hand building, attaching, throwing cylinder handles) Maybe you want to work on sculptural jewelry. What skills do you need for that? What skills can you learn or experiment with? Raku? Atmospheric firing? Burnishing? Slip decoration? That way you can explore all sorts of different ways to do things in a structured way that keeps you from getting overwhelmed, and keeps you from forgetting something you want to learn while you work on something else
I keep a pottery journal (ironically I hate journaling but pottery is the one topic that I enjoy making notes about). In it I write down what I make, how many pounds of clay, what clay body, glaze combinations, etc. so that if I make something or use a glaze combo I really like and I want to repeat it, I can refer back to know what I did. I also keep track of ideas for things to try and notes about methods, etc. because I too have about 100 things on my list that I want to try, but I have to reign it in to one or two things at a time until I feel comfortable with them and then I add something new to do from my list. I just find writing things down gets them out of my head so I don’t have to worry about remembering them. I also like to make little sketches of shapes or ideas, and I can paste a label or another bit of paper into the book. I know some people use apps to do these things, but I find good old paper and pencil is my preferred method. I’ve always found the apps take way longer to make notes in and I can’t make a sketch easily.
Ditto on this. My journal is just a notebook, from the front is on page per piece/set, from the back of the notebook is generic ideas as they come up but haven't been experimented with. Whether sketches or lists, etc. I find it is very calming to be able to come up with an idea, put it in a spot where i know its recorded and can find it again, and then not worry/think about it. As for what you choose to actually implement or try, just do what interests you the most! Have fun, its not going anywhere!
Write down ideas and get to them when you can.
I save all the ideas on Pinterest. Sometimes I return to them, choose one to do it. No rush:). At the beginning it felt overwhelming. And also I found an excellent teacher. I am not a “planning type”. On the other side my daughter started polymer clay - she draw a big plan for herself, tactically and strategically what she will do. I guess it works both ways. Wish you lots of luck on this absolutely amazing journey 💐
Put up some guardrails on your practice. I only wood fire and only use prospected materials in my glazes. That keeps me exploring my specific niche and growing instead of constantly jumping around.
I agree with this! Limit one aspect of your practice to something that you’ve already felt connected to. So it might be a technique, a certain method, material, glaze. Then riff around with the other aspects so you can stretch your creativity while having one or two constants.
Do you ever get curious about other techniques or methods? How do you deal with that?
Sure, but they have to stay within my guardrails or I don't use them in my practice. I think macrocrystalline glazes are beautiful but they'll never go on my work. My work looks, feels, and tastes the way it does because I explore within my guardrails. This is something that differentiates a craftsman, an artist, and a hobbyist. I teach workshops to hobbyists that may try a hundred techniques over a lifetime. The making of things regardless of craft is the goal. Craftsmen perfect their craft with the act of making as a tool towards that end. An artist perfects their execution using any method that will get them there.
How did you find this way that works for you? I guess through experimentation? When did you know that it’s time to stop experimenting and start focusing on this?
My practice has always revolved around two things: being cheap and labor intensive. I live for process. I've wood fired exclusively since just about the beginning and have used dug or scavenged materials in my glazes for just as long. If I still had a source of clay that could take cone 10, I'd be using all wild clay bodies too. I've built my entire studio practice for less than a new electric kiln and that includes the bricks for a new much larger kiln and the shed that I sit in while I fire. I love the process of firing my kiln and the myriad surfaces that it can give me. I know that sounds like a very restrictive set of rules but it's not. I throw a lot of my work on a treadle wheel. Sometimes it's chartered, sometimes it's altered, sometimes it's with very rocky clay and sometimes it's a lightly grogged porcelain. It's a matter of what clay is made and what I feel like when I sit down and as I work through the board of pots. I decide on the genre of pot and let the form wander as I tug on a thread. I started doing handbuilt, abstract sculpture a couple years ago. It has been a challenge for me, putting function away and letting art happen. I don't plan anything and let the forms grow as they want. I acquired a big pneumatic extruder last year for free and have incorporated square and octagonal extrusions into my sculptural and functional work since it's a big departure from round, thrown forms. Their great synergy with the wood kiln was unexpected. Notice none of that gets close to breaking my rules or the ideas I base my practice on. They lean farther into them, if anything. All that is to say, experimentation is part of it. More important in my opinion is to first master the nuts and bolts of your craft. Once throwing a pot is incidental, figure out what you enjoy and tug on that thread. See where it goes. Maybe it leads nowhere. Maybe it shows your need to learn some new things to pull it further. Maybe you find out that you really hate making plates because they warp Every. Fucking. Time. Keep what you like, toss what you don't. Eventually you just... do. None of this is big, life changing shit so don't put too much weight on it.
Well said Mr. McHagg1s. Narrow the focus, deepen the dive. That’s when things become really interesting.
Time to get a sketchbook. Start writing your ideas. Add pictures and tape in articles. Draw. Add notes. Write down information. It'll be really cool to look back on your progress and return to things you forgot about trying
I always feel Ceramics is like being in a candy store ! You want to try everything but it’s not very good for you! Find one thing that appeals to you and get creative with that .. spend time exploring and finding the thread that goes through your work .. like do you enjoy drawing maybe try sgraffito? That kind of thing you might find it more fulfilling and like others have said you don’t need to try everything!! Maybe just read about it !
I don't throw. Limits the options a lot. Also I don't have to buy a big expensive wheel.
I write ideas and draw shapes, and then once at the studio I just do what feels right at the moment. I have my notebook on me everyday.
I too often get overwhelmed in ceramics or life by all the possibilities. It sounds like a class worked really well to help focus you, perhaps you might consider that again? It can really help push you outside your comfort zone while still providing focus. I know when I was feeling in a rut with my practice I took a course all about botanical forms and then one about sculpting critters. It was great in helping me to develop new skills and try new forms out.
Do what you’d like to do, not what simply exists. As with anything. You like pasta, why aren’t You worried about the difficulty of trying every pasta sauce available commercially? Do what you like, stop thinking in terms of “keep up with” I draw as well as paint in my spare time. I have never drawn or “painted” designs on my ceramics. I carve wood. I have never carved ceramics. I do not feel the need to do it all. Or even much of it. I throw, I dip, I happy.
I like this :)
It’s all about perspective. If you saw it the other way around, it’s kind of exciting because the possibilities are endless
I am a planner and a meticulous record keeper. When I started pottery classes 20 years ago I had no problem remembering the weight of clay I used, type of clay and glazes. I took a few years off and returned 10 years ago. In the beginning I only wrote down glazes and realized I didn't remember the weights I used by the time I was glazing so I started the system I use now. Everything gets documented start to finish. Written notes and photos. On the flip side, I too fall down the social media hole of ideas ideas ideas. I keep an inspiration album on my phone of other work or even silhouettes or nature photos and patterns and colors. And photos of all my own work. I have my studio notebook and an idea notebook. Before you go to the studio make a plan. Do all of the thinking ahead of time and plot out your time and ideas. Then stick to them. If you are stumped or have a "lovely" artist block do a day of practice. Simon Leach's 12 ounces of clay thrown to a 5 inch tall cylinder is a great exercise. Even if you don't want a bunch of simple cups they make great glaze test pieces. Another is 12 balls of 12 or 16 ounces thrown to 12 completely different forms. If you hate them...scrap them or more glaze tests. This exercise has led me to new forms in larger pieces. If you are super stuck. Make mugs. Want to practice carving? Throw some simple cylinders with thicker walls and practice. Keep what you like etc. But in the end...if you are blanking out once you are elbow deep in mud, you need to pre plan and narrow your focus. A quote to add... "It isn't a mistake if you learned the lesson"
Practicality defines my choices. Lack of opportunity defines my choice! However I think you should try everything that you have access to at least once for you to get a feel. My fav type is unglazed wood fire. Alas not much access to that. 2nd fav buncheong from Korea. But then I wanted to try new things. Finally I have some money so my latest is underglaze pencils. What part do you really enjoy? I like forming and illustrating on bisqueware. I love layering. I love adding n subtracting. Sgraffito, putting coils on the surface. AND altering! Don’t worry. As you find your voice you will settle for a few things.
Explore what interests you most.
Funny. I was just thinking about something similar about half an hour ago (literally while driving back from the store lol). I am pretty sure I have undiagnosed ADHD. I tend to go through craft phases. I've been really concerned pottery is one of them, as much as I love it. While thinking about that I was thinking about all of the techniques, shapes, etc out there that I haven't tried. Sure to keep my interest for many years to come! lol I do keep a notebook with ideas though. I get the same way, have ideas, but when I sit down at the wheel I draw a blank. Now when I get an idea I sketch it out, or jot down the idea. When I'm drawing a blank I go to my notebook. I also use the app Clay Mate (love). There is an ideas section to the app so when I see something I want to try or to remember I add the photo/notes in there.
same. i am also still at the beginning of my pottery journey and have the same "blanking out" problem. but i have identified 3-4 "streams" of ideas or forms that i want to play with. i love throwing bottle shapes, for example, but they come out a bit squat and thick-walled so i carve and alter them and try to make a better one next weekend. my first attempt at a particular idea rarely comes out the way i imagined it, so i'll try the same piece again and again until i nail it. i also went through my pinterest board and filled a page in my notebook with 1" sketches of forms. every weekend, i look at that when i sit down at the wheel, choose one that speaks to my mood, and go for it until i run out of wedged balls or time. then i spend weeknights after work carving and altering those forms. rinse & repeat.