Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
#383 From Boredom to Brilliance: Unlocking Your Pottery Voice
55 Plays2 years ago
The Importance of Play in Pottery
This episode discusses the significance of allowing oneself the freedom to play and experiment with clay in pottery. Nic Torres, emphasizes how crucial it is for potters to give themselves permission to fail and try new techniques beyond their routine practices. He points out that sticking to the same methods can lead to boredom, which may eventually cause one to lose interest in pottery. Torres advises incorporating one or two experiments into every kiln firing as a strategy to prevent this. He assures that through playing and experimenting, potters can find and grow their unique voice in the craft. Additionally, he offers listeners access to 53 pottery themes to help them define their style and keep their work exciting. The goal is for potters to continually enjoy and flourish in their pottery-making journey by embracing creativity and innovation.
Get your 53 themes by clicking this link shapingyourpottery.com/53themes
Join The Shaping Your Pottery Newsletter By Clicking This Link shapingyourpottery.com/newsletter
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Finding Your Voice
00:00:00
Speaker
When was the last time you have allowed yourself to just play with the clay? What is up Shape Nation? It's Nick Torres. You know, if you don't know me, it's my mission to have a potter yourself because of your own unique voice with your potter.
Embracing Experimentation in Pottery
00:00:12
Speaker
So when was the last time you gave yourself a mission to just play with the clay? Mess up a little bit. Fail a little bit. Do something that is not the norm with your pottery. Has it been a month? A week? A year? Two years? Three months. How long has it been?
00:00:30
Speaker
And why aren't you giving yourself more time to play? You see, we all get this this routine going in pottery, whether it's because we have an outside job or just because the stuff we're doing is either selling really well or it's just that's what we just kind of got stuck doing.
Overcoming Routine and Boredom
00:00:51
Speaker
You know, we didn't give ourselves permission to start experiments with other things.
00:00:55
Speaker
But it's so important to give ourself permission to just play with the clay.
00:01:01
Speaker
We have to play with the clay because that's how we not only find our voice. If you have found out already, that's perfect. That's great. But it's also how you keep growing your voice as well. If you keep if you get stuck doing the same, making the same things over and over and over again, what happens? You probably know what I'm going to say. It's boredom and boredom is the single biggest mistake that anybody
00:01:28
Speaker
can run into whether you're in pottery or outside pottery, boredom is that thing that will kill us. It kills us slowly, but it kills us nonetheless. And if you keep making the same thing over and over again, you're eventually going to want to stop.
Creative Growth through Kiln Experiments
00:01:44
Speaker
You don't want to stop making pottery or you don't want to stop doing the things that excited you before because now you're bored. So you have to give yourself time to play.
00:01:54
Speaker
So I've had some excellent advice for partners that I've interviewed where they say that they try to sneak in one or two experiments into the kiln every single time they fire it. You know, if it's a big kiln, they could fit one or two experiments in there and doing it this way is allows you to play, allows you to play with the clay, allows you to do things that are not of the norm. And the more you play with your clay, the more you experiment with your clay,
00:02:24
Speaker
The faster that you're going to find your voice and the more you're going to grow as well. It's going to be easy to find your voice because now you're going to start seeing those patterns that you enjoy because you experimented. You have to give yourself time to play with the clay or else you're never going to find your voice.
Preventing Creative Stagnation
00:02:39
Speaker
You're just going to get bored and you're going to end up dropping pottery all together. And that's not what I want. I want you to enjoy making pottery but also continue flourishing in it as well.
00:02:50
Speaker
because you have to give yourself time to play. Don't get stuck in that rut because if you get stuck in that rut, that's when everything goes downhill.
Conclusion and Avoiding Burnout
00:02:59
Speaker
Give yourself time to play. Maybe it's one time a week or one time a month. Give yourself time to play with pottery and make something that you have never made before. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys in the next one. Thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery. If you are struggling with
00:03:20
Speaker
finding your own theme for your pottery so that, you know, you are known for something.
Resource Promotion for Potters
00:03:26
Speaker
I put together 53 themes that you can use and you can take. All you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery.com forward 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.
00:03:49
Speaker
and you can be known for something. So again, go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash 53 themes, that's five, three themes to get these 53 themes. Thanks guys, I'll see you guys next time.