Impressions of making pottery

I have always felt that the nature of clay is the most important aspect of pottery that needs to be mastered.

Clay is the language medium for ceramic art creation. And mastering the "mud nature" is a skill and effort that we must possess. The understanding of the nature of mud cannot be understood and mastered by the teacher. To master the nature of mud, we rely on practical experience and understanding.

From the initial awkwardness and awkwardness, we slowly felt the clay with our hands and hearts, and gradually began to become familiar with and master the nature of the clay. Mud is like a willful child. Each type of mud has its own unique personality. You not only need to understand it, but also know how to deal with it. For example, when rolling mud strips, first take a ball of mud, roughly knead it into a long strip shape, and then roll it evenly and gently back and forth from the palm to your fingertips repeatedly to make the mud strips round. It is easy to flatten the clay strips during the rubbing process, but it can be restored by twisting the clay strips into a twist and rubbing them repeatedly. Pay attention to keeping the moisture in your hands, not too much, otherwise it will stick to the chopping board. If the clay strip is rubbed for too long, too much moisture will be taken away, and it will be easy to break.

As for our skills at hand, that is, technology, it requires time to hone. In fact, practice makes perfect. There is no such thing as IQ or talent. The key is to practice more, and diligence is king.

The more you do it, the more you realize that you need to be calm while doing it and do it slowly.

From the beginning to now, although the study time is short and the homework is not much, I have learned a lot. Since you practice, problems will arise, and when problems arise, you will naturally learn how to solve them. What I like most about taking this course is the moment I discover the problem. I realize that the mud cannot be made too thick, and the different thicknesses of the mud strips will affect the appearance... I don't care whether the final work is perfect, I care. It’s what I learned during this process. And every time a question comes, I can learn something new.

Although the course is over now, I think I will continue to study it if I have the opportunity in the future. In my opinion, learning clay strip molding is not only about learning how to make a beautiful work, but also about cultivating and improving our learning attitude, carefulness and patience, clay skills and other abilities.