The first time I ever saw a potter working was in about 1975 on a school trip to Bendigo Pottery. Yes, like every other child who ever saw a professional thrower at work, I thought it was magical. I bought my first pot that day, a wood fired salt glaze wine goblet. It had a solid stem, thrown in one piece, and was heavy as lead. In 1983, when I was working as a demonstration thrower for Bendigo Pottery, I discovered that the wheels had only two speeds, flat out and stop. Which is why all the pots were thick and heavy, anything less and the torque would have turned everything baroque.
Today, I am finishing off a run of my own wine goblets. I throw them in two parts and join them so that the stems are hollow and the finished work is light and comfortable to hold.
Tall and elegant, the stems are thin and care must be taken not to twist them.
When all is said and done, I come full circle time and again, and like the growth rings of a tree, every previous cycle is part of who I have become. I'm making wood fired soda glazed wine goblets, very different to the one I bought all those years ago, but to the little boy that lingers inside me there is still something magical about them.
Today, I am finishing off a run of my own wine goblets. I throw them in two parts and join them so that the stems are hollow and the finished work is light and comfortable to hold.
Tall and elegant, the stems are thin and care must be taken not to twist them.
When all is said and done, I come full circle time and again, and like the growth rings of a tree, every previous cycle is part of who I have become. I'm making wood fired soda glazed wine goblets, very different to the one I bought all those years ago, but to the little boy that lingers inside me there is still something magical about them.
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