Adventures in aging with intention
The Alphabet Adventures With Nancy Hubbell Fournier (pronounced Fourn yay)
Journey along with our resident humorist Nancy as she embarks on unusual adventures from A to Z. With the alphabet as her guide to new experiences, Nancy rates her excursions as a “Fourn-Yay” or “Fourn-Nay.”
Letter “P” – Playing with Pottery
Powering through the creative process with laughter…
“Um….you can’t just reattach it,” said Cody, his long dreadlocks swaying. “There’s more clay if you want to start over,” he kindly offered.
Cody was our instructor for a two-hour “Introduction to Wheel Throwing” class at Clay on First in Long Beach, Calif. For $65, we got two hours of instruction, all the supplies, and the opportunity to create two different pieces. The price included bringing home one piece, and others could be purchased for $8 each. Spoiler alert: there were no second pieces worth purchasing among our group.
My friends Josie and Karen joined me for this adventure in my alphabet odyssey. I had suggested they wear clothes that could get messy, saying “Think Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in ‘Ghost.’”
In fact, there were some similarities to the intimate scene in the movie; we all made a mess and had clay projects that ultimately flopped. I’ll get to other common elements in a moment.
My inspiration for pursuing pottery came from my friend, Rachael Clemens, who is a part-owner in a pottery studio in Pittsboro, N.C. On social media I see the beautiful things she and her fellow ceramics enthusiasts create, and she often encourages others to give it a try.
I found a nearby studio, signed up for the class, then gave Rachael a call to ask for some tips and tricks. Rachael came by pottery purely by accident. As an undergrad in college, she inadvertently got enrolled in ceramics. When she went to the studio to drop the class, she spied the cute teacher and decided to give it a whirl, so to speak.
Rachael dabbled in pottery on and off for years and is now part of a thriving community of artisans, novices, and everything in between. When I asked her why she’s so devoted, she said, “It’s therapeutic and gives you the luxurious opportunity to focus completely on the clay.” When working on the wheel “you get that great tactile feeling.”
Rachael’s tips aligned perfectly with what Cody taught us:
Sounds easy, right?
Josie, Karen and I followed Cody’s instructions, placing our hands just so, making sure our piece stayed shiny with water, and we tried to keep the wheel at a consistent speed. He demonstrated how to condition the clay by starting with an egg shape, bringing it up to a cone, tilting it and bringing it down to a puck shape.
While Cody’s clay reshaped effortlessly, our machinations and missteps with the slippery clay elicited plenty of giggles and side comments. Our cone shapes could easily be described as, well… phallic…which we gleefully massaged to make it rise, then tilted it to the side and slid it back down toward the wheel. And did it again, and again, to get the clay ready for its new form. There’s a reason this process sparked some fire for Demi and Patrick!
In theory, we were the most “adult” people in the class, but we didn’t act that way. However, we were certainly following Rachael’s suggestion to enjoy that tactile feeling and have a good time. There was no chance to get distracted by my phone, as my hands were covered with clay. It was quality time with my creative juices, to be sure.
Eventually, we all managed to shape our clay into objects that resembled a bowl. Then Karen pressed her foot pedal a little too hard and her piece flew off her wheel. Whoops! Josie’s bowl looked great, until it caved. After a struggle, I managed to complete my bowl, but it’s safe to say it looked nothing like Cody’s sleek design.
Our second project was to create a cylinder. More giggling as we squeezed the clay up, then brought it down again. As we were forming our cylinder walls, Cody shared that, if done correctly, pottery will last thousands of years. Suddenly, my finger went through my fragile wall as my project spun, creating a jagged line, and effectively severing it from its base.
That was when Cody suggested I start over, if I wished. Nope. I’d had plenty of laughs and had one project in the can. Meanwhile, Josie’s cylinder was formed into more of a bowl, which suited her just fine. And Karen had a great time manipulating the clay, but didn’t feel the need to walk away with a completed item. Perfect!
Once we finished our projects, Clay on First did all the other work of trimming, glazing, firing, etc. And now, I am the proud owner of a lumpy blue bowl-ish thing. I don’t know how I’ll use it, but if I’m really lucky, it will last me a thousand years!
Fourn-yay: Having friends join me to share in this experience was great. It was slimy, slippery and fun to manipulate the clay. With practice, we might even be able to create something useful and/or beautiful.
Fourn-nay: Bracing our legs and leaning over the wheel for two hours was hard on our backs, but we were too busy laughing to pay attention to correcting our posture.
Other P activities: Pickleball, Paddle boarding, Parasailing, Picking fruit.
Got something fun on your bucket list I should try? Share your suggestions to intentfullyfit@gmail.com
