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#356 Crafting Critique: The Power of External Feedback
52 Plays2 years ago
In this episode of Shaping Your Pottery, host Nic Torres emphasizes the importance of seeking and embracing external feedback for pottery improvement. He discusses how feedback can come from various sources such as family, friends, social media, or fellow potters. Despite the possibility of encountering negative comments, Nic encourages potters to extract valuable insights from criticism to enhance their craft. He shares personal strategies for obtaining constructive feedback, including directly reaching out to other potters via social media to request their input on specific pieces. Moreover, Nic highlights how feedback can provide direction, inspire better work, and prevent creative burnout. He also introduces a resource offering 53 pottery themes to help potters find their unique voice and signature style, available on the Shaping Your Pottery website.
Get your 53 themes by clicking this link shapingyourpottery.com/53themes
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Transcript
Importance of Feedback in Pottery
00:00:00
Speaker
When was the last time you got outside feedback about your own pottery? What is up Shaper Nation?
Introduction to Nick Torres and His Mission
00:00:06
Speaker
This is Nick Torres here, and for those that don't know me, it is my mission to help potters like yourself to discover your own unique voice with your pottery. So, I ask you the question again. When was the last time you have gotten outside feedback about your own pottery?
00:00:20
Speaker
Outside feedback is probably the best thing, one of the best things that you can do to see what type of direction you can go with your pottery.
Sources and Types of Feedback
00:00:28
Speaker
And outside feedback can come from pretty much anywhere. It can come from your family, it can come from your girlfriend or your boyfriend, it can come from, you know, somebody on social media, it can come from another potter. But outside feedback is actually really helpful.
00:00:41
Speaker
And I know sometimes there are just people being mean like on social media they'll say like they'll maybe say your your pottery looks like shit and nobody would buy this right I'm sure some of you have probably got that before and that's fine let them talk you know they're just talking because they're they're angry at something and so they're taking it out on you but sometimes what they're saying can be a little true because if you're getting multiple people saying oh this looks like crap or I would never buy this
00:01:12
Speaker
Maybe there's some truth in there. Maybe there's a little bit of truth.
Handling and Utilizing Feedback
00:01:15
Speaker
And so if you dive a little bit deeper onto what they think is a good mug or what they think is a good pot, you can ask them, say, oh, thank you. Thank you for the outside feedback. What do you think I should do to improve it? And I'm sure that they'd be more than happy to say what they would say and actually give you a little bit of feedback.
00:01:36
Speaker
Because the more feedback you get, the better off you are knowing what type of potter you should be making or what type of potter is going to actually fuel you as well. And you can also get outside feedback from other potters as well.
00:01:52
Speaker
So let's say, for example, that you are trying something out, trying something new and you want some outside feedback on this. So what can you do about that? To get outside feedback from other potters where their feedback is probably going to matter more compared to someone that is just random or even your family members. What can you do to get that outside feedback? So something that you can do and something that I have done as well in the past
Improving Pottery Quality with Feedback
00:02:19
Speaker
is I will actually DM people and like say, hey, I love your work, can I ask you a question? And then normally they'll say yes and you can ask the question and then you can ask them, can I get some feedback on this piece that I made? What do you think needs to be improved? And if you simply just ask that question, then you're gonna get an answer. What can I do to improve this pot? Can I get some outside feedback, please? And if you just get out of your comfort zone and just ask,
00:02:48
Speaker
you're going to get a lot of feedback because that feedback is actually going to help you a lot. Because now you have a direction, you have direction where you want to go, you have direction where to improve things, and when you can improve things, then your part is going to get better. So outside feedback matters a lot. Even if it's just some hater on, you know, social media, use that feedback and see if you can make a better pot next time.
Ending with Themes for Pottery Inspiration
00:03:12
Speaker
Hope you guys enjoy 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 finding your own theme for your pottery, so that you are known for something, I put together 53 themes that you can use and you can take. All you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery.com
00:03:36
Speaker
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 gonna 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 53 themes, that's five, three themes to get these 53 themes. Thanks guys, I'll see you guys next time.