The first thing people ask me when I tell them I am taking a ceramics class is if my work on the wheel is like Debbie Moore's in Ghost. This really upsets me. I instantly start whining that the movie sets really bad expectations for new potters. It makes the whole wheel process look so easy.
I signed up for ceramics classes because I thought it would be relaxing. A nice creative outlet after a busy work day. I was wrong. Manipulating clay on a spinning disc is not as easy as one may think or watch in Ghost. I wasn't always jaded. I was hopeful the first 8 classes. At the begining of every class I would eagerly kneed several balls of clay anticipating that this would be the day that I make something on the wheel. By the end of the class I would be very frustrated when I saw all the other ladies make bowls and cynlinders and all I had to show for my 2 hour effort was clay all over my wheel, clothes and hair. When I whined to my officemate about the injustice, he wisely said "well maybe all the other girls have their gohst boyfriends helping them shape their clay!" For a second the idea apeased me but then I became not only jealous of their bowls but their hot gost boyfriends too! I decided not to quit and take another beginingers class. At the first class in the new round of begining classes, the teacher said "hey I think your nails may be too long and that's your problem." I joked well if it is is easy as that I would have cut my nails 3 months ago. After all that's easier than finding a ghost boyfriend and that was the only other solution that had been offered to me so far. So the next class, I cut my nails right before class and it was a miracle. Every piece of clay I sculpted on the wheel magically formed into a cylinder! I got so good that I got cocky and threw a couple of way and made one (the last one in the picture) deformed just for fun. Who knew that the trick was to just cut my nails.
