That pleasing mud on my hands

Coffee tastes better in my first handmade mug!

I was always fascinated with clay. It has very attractive traits. It’s so earthy, you have it in your hands and you can form it however you want. Working with clay involves all the four elements, earth and water, air and fire, which I find so completing. I vividly remember my very first impression of clay on the wheel, in the most famous pottery scene, in the movie Ghost with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. It looked so smooth and sensual. Though I was a kid when I first saw it, I found it so tempting.

As many people did during covid, I also tried new activities and hobbies, like gardening and drawing with watercolors. It was a period when many of us realized the lack of doing creative things in our daily lives and it was a good opportunity -if not an awakening- to bring back this creativity we probably lost when our childhood years were over. So, among other activities and hobbies, I also tried making things of air-dried clay. And they were really not good! Actually they were pretty childish and though I blamed the type of clay I used, which was difficult to form nicely, I got disappointed and dropped it.

A few months ago I found a pottery workshop and decided to give it another try. The workshops were held in a shop called Tales in Tiles, in Petralona, Athens. On my way there I realized how far from home was the place, I got stack in traffic and it took an hour to get there. I was pissed off when I arrived and I was not in a mood to do anything creative. But it was too late to cancel, so I thought I would only do this lesson and cancel the rest of the month I had booked. I got in and saw a very cute space, with a cozy, welcoming candle smell and cheerful faces, so I somewhat started relaxing. The teacher, Dilek, was very pleasant and smiley. She first explained the basics to get started and gave some ideas of what we could make. I decided to go for a mug. It took me the whole lesson, which was two hours, to make it. I was satisfied with what I made, but the most fulfilling part was that the procedure felt so creative and for these two hours I was so into what I was doing, undistracted, not thinking of problems, bills, traffic or why didn’t he text.

This is how my mug looked like at the end of my first workshop. Left to dry and get ready for the first firing.

My mug then had to be left to dry in the air, and after a few days it was fired in the kiln (a type of oven used in pottery), a procedure which is called “bisque firing”, then glazed and fired for a second time. A couple of weeks later it was ready. So in one of my next lessons (of course I didn’t cancel them) Stavroula, the lovely owner of the shop, gave me the mug. I was so happy and satisfied to see it! Of course it has many flaws but it’s cute and I made it with my own hands so I love it. It’s the first mug I grab from the cupboard when I make coffee or tea. Since my first workshop, I’ve made some more mugs, plates, a pitcher and other stuff, many of which I gave to people I love. Now I’m almost done with my plates collection and I’m thinking of what my next project is going to be.

Pottery in that way combines an enjoyable activity that produces objects I can enjoy even after this activity is over. This is important to me. I don’t like doing something just for the sake of doing it. I always want to have a tangible outcome. Which I didn’t have in another workshop I tried, this time on wheel throwing. I thought I could be like Demi so I went to this lesson to see how it’s done, along with a friend. Our first attempt was almost ridiculous, we couldn’t stop laughing at ourselves! I didn’t manage to stick that clay in the middle of the wheel, not even once! I just made nice piles of mud from all the ruined clay. It was a disaster from the point of creativity but we certainly laughed a lot!

I tried wheel throwing a couple more times but with no success, the progress was so slow that I got bored, it wasn’t fun for me so I stopped going to these lessons. It wasn’t satisfying for me as it was for Demi Moore in the movie…

Trying to make a pitcher.

It started somewhat like that…

Next step: Waiting for the kiln.

The type of clay used in the workshop looks grayish before firing.

It looks quite different at the end of the process!

It’s shiny, the gray becomes white and the color is much more vivid.

I’m an espresso lover.

I also love cookies. So the plate has enough space for a small one.

After drawing it.

I saw this on Pinterest and I loved it.

It should be a little bigger, it’s only good for a ristretto.

But there is enough room for the cookie.