I have tried for so long to make the perfect ceramic wheel pieces, only to now be told that it isn't good enough and that I have to take it a step beyond. For an entire semester I ignored things I was told regarding my work, I liked it better as a more perfect form... or so I thought. After some discussion with Joan Tweedy I have come up with the correct method for me. I have determined that before I was very scared once I had a piece finished, I was terrified of distorting the piece while removing it from the wheel (using twist and lift) and would barely touch it once it had landed somewhere. It feels really good to be able to put my hands on a piece while it is still wet and have some ability to form it and make changes to it, then recenter the lip of the form, making it as though it had never been messed with. Before I started doing these changes recently I used to think that my pieces would look really rough if I did that, so I avoided it, but it actually makes my pieces look more complete and like they have existance, they aren't just plain white cyllinders without human touch (it is possible to throw a straight cylinder using only ribs, no fingers). As Tweedy often says, "A machine can make a perfect round cyllinder faster than we can center", so I guess I should work towards being as non-mechanical as possible and start trying to "feel" my work.
