Day 5....time to get on the potter's wheel

The day started out very rainy and I really hoped the weather would hold up by the time I got to The Crafthouse....and it did.

The usual early crew were already there including Miss Erica....a tiny twelve year old girl who has a bundle of energy, but is very enthusiastic....maybe overly so, was already working on the mask she had created the day before....much to my chagrin, she was handling the piece way to much and though I cautioned her against that she was adamant....so....it BROKE! I was a bit upset since this meant she would either have to forego making that piece or remake one. I chose to allow her to do the latter but did tell her she needs to wait and listen a bit more. I must say I do admire the fact that she comes prepared....she did the research I asked them to do. One day she came prepared with designs to place on her pots and today she had the newspapers which Ms. Christoper asked them to walk with....but like I said early....a bundle of energy and much to chatty for her size and age...(yep she stands up to the bigger girls)!

The first task of the day was to refine, shape and smooth out the face they had created the day before. The three girls who were absent before were brought up to scratch, meaning I gave them a quick overview of what we had done the day before. They had to draw a face and then create in clay. While Erica, Crystal, Christiana and Jamila(not sure) worked on making the faced I showed the others the potter's wheel.

I decided we would use white clay for the introduction to the wheel. I cut up the clay and gave each participant a block of clay to wedge. Then they each formed 3 balls of clay. I had everyone look at me as I went through the whole process of making a piece of pottery on the wheel. Each participant got an opportunity to attempt to make a piece of pottery on the wheel. By the end of the afternoon, the only male in the class to date, Delton(finally got the name right) was able to produce a bowl-like shape. Since there was only one wheel available, those who had already attempted were encouraged to use the remaining clay to make an imaginative piece. At the end of the session I put all unused clay in a bowl of water to recycle for later use.

There were eleven young persons in today...One girl....Eleisa was missing...I hope she'll be back tomorrow.

Learning the wheel will take practice so I encouraged the girls to do some hand exercises, and to visit you-tube to view videos of potters making pottery on the wheel. More practice tomorrow.