Transcript
Speaker: Hey, real quick before we get started, if you would like to find your own theme for your pottery so your voice really stands out and you're not getting bored with making the same thing over and over again, I put together 53 themes for you guys and it's completely free. All you have to do to get it is just go to shapingyourpottery .com forward slash 53 themes. That's shapingyourpottery .com forward slash 53 themes. I'll see you guys in there.
Speaker: If you love pottery and want to take your skills to the next level, you're in the right place. Find your own pottery style right here on Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Let's get started. What is up, Shaping Nation? This is Nick Torres here. On this episode of Shaping Your Pottery, I'm going to be talking about five tips that will help you discover your own unique voice. So let's just get right to it. Tip number one is to simply
Speaker: Start with the end in mind. When you're able to start with the end in mind, what happens is that you have a destination where your pottery is heading. You know what is going to be put onto your pottery. You know what you are going to be making, and it just makes your voice that much easier to discover. Think of it like a treasure map. When you have a treasure map,
Speaker: What is the thing that they are looking for? They are looking for treasure and they know what island to look on. Now it's just about finding where the treasure is actually at on the island. And it's the same thing with having an end in mind. When you have an end in mind, you know where you are going. You just have to figure out all the pieces to make it actually come together. You know where you're going. You just have to make the piece fit all together. So that's why it's important to start with the end in mind. It makes everything flow a lot better and a lot easier.
Speaker: Now, the second tip is to pick a theme for your pottery. The worst thing that can happen for your pottery in Finding Your Voice is boredom. And you see, we tend to start making the same thing over and over again because we know that is what is selling well. So that's why it's important to pick a theme for your pottery. I talk more about this on another episode. Just go to shapingyourpottery .com forward slash theme
Speaker: go check out that episode. But to give a little brief rundown, basically a theme allows you to have multiple styles while still being known for something, right?
Speaker: Let's say your theme is fantasy. In that fantasy theme, you can have many different styles. Maybe you have one that is wizard or magic based, or maybe one is Hobbit based, or maybe you just have any other different type of fantasy theme, or maybe you're carving one day and you're sculpting the next, whatever it is. That's why it's important to have a theme for potters that you can have multiple styles, so you don't have to be bogged down by just doing the same thing over and over again.
Speaker: and not worry so much about whether if you should or if you can change your voice, right? If you can change your own new style. That's why it's important to have a theme. So the first two tips so far have been start with the end in mind and then find a theme for your pottery. The third tip is focusing on making tiny, tiny, tiny improvements with your pottery each time you make.
Speaker: A lot of times, potters, they try to go for the big home runs. And it's not just potters, it's like everyone in general. They try to go for the big home runs right away and they're not seeing the bigger picture.
Speaker: When you're able to make tiny little adjustments each time you will make pottery, you're going to get closer and closer and closer and closer to finding your voice and growing it as well by simply making those tiny little actions or tiny little things that you will like to experiment with. You just make those tiny little things so that you are able to, one, you're able to control the situation a lot better.
Speaker: Two, you start making improvements every single time you are making pottery. You start making improvements every single time because you are doing one little thing, one tiny one percent of a thing that makes your pottery look just that much better. And the best thing about these tiny little actions is that they stack on one another.
Speaker: You know, right? So you start with 1 % of whatever you're doing. So let's say you are, let's start with the simplest thing, whatever you're doing. So glazing or wheel throwing, for example. 1 % better would be altering just one little section of it.
Speaker: and then you go again and another 1 % would be altering a different section or maybe the way you glaze and then maybe you start adding carvings or maybe you start adding sculptures to it and then you just start growing and growing and growing and growing but you're doing simple little things like that. So those are the three things. The first tip is number one, you have to start with the end in mind. Number two, you must pick a theme for your pottery.
Speaker: Number three is to make tiny little adjustments and make, improve just a little bit at a time. 1 % of the time is all it takes. Now the fourth tip here is making time to practice daily if you can, but making time to practice often, right? You have to try to make time to practice as much as you can because we need to practice our voice. We need to practice our ideas. We need to experiment.
Speaker: a lot in order to make it come to life. If you are somebody that can only make pottery a couple of times a week or maybe even once a week because you are super busy, you have a job, whatever it is, make that time the best time possible that you can make pottery. Make it the best time to practice pottery so that you are able to practice and actually find your voice
Speaker: Because without the practice, our voice will never actually come to life. It will never really be able to make, it literally just won't come to life because if we can't practice it, then you know, our skills won't develop. And that's what finding a voice is all about. It's about developing our skills necessary so that when our voice finally does show up, we're able to take action on it. So that's why it's important to
Speaker: to, if you can, take practice daily. 10 minutes is really all it takes for you to start building upon that and building upon that just by simply taking practice daily. So here are the tips so far. So number one is to start with the end in mind. Number two is to find a theme for your pottery. Number three is to make tiny improvements each and every single time you are making pottery.
Speaker: Number four is to practice daily if you can or just practice as much as you can throughout the week. Finally, tip number five is connecting with other potters. Connecting with other potters is by far the quickest way that you can actually discover your own voice. What happens is when you're able to connect and actually talk with other potters and you show them your work and they show you yours,
Speaker: theirs, then what happens is ideas start bouncing off one of another, you know, you send a picture or you actually like are in person with somebody, and you show them like, Hey, what do you think about this? And they say, Hmm, I think it looks good. But I think you could do something different. I think you could do this, this and this, right? They give you a bunch of ideas. Oh, that's really great idea.
Speaker: and they show you their pottery and yeah, I think it's good too, but I think you can do this to make it even look even better, right? It's this collaboration of two minds coming together and it helps you really find your voice a lot quicker because you're able to get outside feedback, but it's useful feedback because it's other potters and you trust them.
Speaker: I'm not saying to go out and just get random feedback from social media where you post on your social media, your Instagram page, whatever. And I'm not saying to get that type of feedback because that type of feedback is a lot different. They are doing what they like. But when you have like somebody else that you can collaborate with and you can like actually talk about pottery with, then the idea starts spinning more because they're doing it for your best interest.
Speaker: and they're also getting ideas for themselves for their pottery as well. So those are the five tips here. So number one is to start with the end in mind. Number two is to find a theme for your pottery. Number three is to make tiny improvements each and every single time you are making pottery. Number four is to make time to practice as much as you can throughout the week. And finally, number five is to connect with other potters so that you are able to grow your voice a lot,
Speaker: I hope this brought you some value and I'll see you guys next time.
Speaker: themes that you can use and you can take all you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery .com or slash 53 themes that's five three themes to get these 53 themes it's really important for you to find a theme for your pottery so that you're not going to get burnt out you can have multiple styles with your pottery and you can be known for something so again go to shapingyourpottery .com or slash
Speaker: 53 themes, that's five, three themes to get these 53 themes. Thanks guys, I'll see you guys next time.
