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#3 The Tortoise or The Hare - How to get out of a slump
66 Plays4 years ago
Have you ever got into a slump when your throwing on the wheel. Well we have all been there and sometimes it can be hard to get out that slump, but the easiest and best thing you can do is slow down. In this episode I talk about how going slow actually makes it easier for you to make pottery and you can see results faster as well
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Transcript
Introduction: Slowing Down in Pottery
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. In this episode, I'm going to be talking about taking your time, taking it easy, slowing down a little bit. That is the best way that you can really improve your pottery and start seeing improvements pretty quickly. Allow me to tell you a story before I get to my point.
00:00:25
Speaker
Back during my second year of pottery, it was about 2019, 2020-ish. I had just bought my wheel for the first time and I really wanted, I had this goal in my head to get to six inches with a pound of clay in three pools. I don't know why I had that goal. I just kind of came up with it.
00:00:51
Speaker
But anyways, I started working towards this goal pretty much every single
The Frustration of Goals
00:00:56
Speaker
day. I was going on my wheel every morning and I was starting on my wheel sometimes multiple times a day throughout the day. And every single day I would keep on going and I would go, go, go and I would still not get it. Even after going for about a month, maybe two months, I still wasn't able to get six inches in three pools with about a pound of clay.
00:01:22
Speaker
And at this point I was starting to get really frustrated. I was making a lot more mistakes and it was really making me angry and frustrated. And it was just hard because I didn't understand what I was doing wrong. And I remember one time, the final time was that I
00:01:43
Speaker
was making my pottery and I thought I was doing good. Oh, yes, I got this one. And my peace collapses, my cylinder collapses. I was so mad. I remember I sat there for a second, just in anger. You know how when you're angry? Everything just kind of just
00:02:01
Speaker
is out of nowhere everything is blocked out i was so angry i remember i punched a clay i ripped it from the the wheel that was stuck on the wheel and i threw it against the wheel and i continued punching maybe a couple more times and i just sat there i was like why can't i get this why can't i get this what is my fucking problem i couldn't get it i didn't know what i was doing wrong so i sat there and i sat there for maybe about 10 minutes i would say and
00:02:31
Speaker
I finally was like, you know what, fuck it. I'm not gonna worry about the six inches and three pools. I'm not gonna worry about that right now. I just wanna be able to make something. So I told myself, I'm gonna slow down and I'm gonna make something.
The Power of a Slower Approach
00:02:49
Speaker
It doesn't matter what it is, I'm gonna make something because I need to get over this hump that I was having. So I got another ball of clay, put it on the wheel,
00:03:01
Speaker
and I slowed everything down from centering to pooling to shaping everything I slowed it completely down and by the end of it I got super close to getting six inches in three pools and that got me real thinking I was like
00:03:28
Speaker
what have I been doing wrong is is it as simple as just slowing my wheel down so I took that piece off and I got my next ball of clay because I wanted to see if it was working or not so I did the same exact thing again and this time I did the same exact thing and this time I got to six inches in three pools
00:03:53
Speaker
And I remember I was super excited because I was like, that was super simple and anybody can do this. And now every single time that I mess up or that I am kind of in that little slump that potters kind of get into sometimes, I just tell myself, slow down. It will come out if you just slow down. Really think through the process. Slow down and don't rush things.
00:04:21
Speaker
Now that brings me to my point. It's a good old age question.
Lessons from the Tortoise and the Hare
00:04:26
Speaker
Is it the tortoise or the hare? We all know from the story that the tortoise ended up winning the race, not the hare. And he went slow and steady the entire way to that finish line. Now that's the same thing with pottery. If you can go slow, not rush,
00:04:48
Speaker
you're going to see drastic improvements with your pottery. You're going to be able to make more things quicker too. I know it's ironic, but sometimes you have to go slow in order to go faster later. But going slow is the best thing that you can do for your pottery.
The Freeway Construction Analogy
00:05:05
Speaker
Think of it like this. Picture you're driving down the freeway maybe and along that freeway
00:05:14
Speaker
there's some construction. And so everybody slows down and in comes traffic. And as you move into the construction, you're going maybe about 10 miles per hour. And because you're going slow, you're not gonna hit anybody. You're not gonna injure the workers and you're not gonna mess up what they're doing.
00:05:36
Speaker
So that's how you wanna think about your pottery as well. If you're ever in a slump, just slow down so that you can really see things through.
Encouragement to Slow Down
00:05:46
Speaker
You need to relax sometimes. Sometimes we're all go, go, go, we forget to relax and start thinking about things through. So if you're ever in a slump or you're just looking to improve your pottery a little bit more, maybe get an inch of more height or shape your pottery a little bit better,
00:06:06
Speaker
Slow down. It's okay to slow down. We need to slow down sometimes. So thank you, and I hope you enjoyed this episode.