Solitary Refinement

This morning’s tasks include a visit to the pottery studio to carve bases into pots I threw two days ago. I suspect all six pots will be too wet, still, to handle, so I’ll have to put them in front of fans to dry before I go about smoothing the bottom edges, then carefully carving indentations into their bases. This step is done on the potter’s wheel, too, but at slow speed, with the pots placed upside down on a batt on the wheel and affixed, temporarily, with wet clay. It’s an involved process, requiring care to ensure the pot is centered. The process, like throwing pots, requires practice and patience, which is something I need to refine for myself. I would prefer to do this in my own studio, here at the house, but I have no studio here at the house, so that’s impossible. Throwing pottery, or making slab pots for that matter, is a task best done alone, in my way of thinking. That suits me. It’s like writing and thinking in that regard. Improving my capabilities requires a little more, or a lot more, solitary refinement.