Liz 9: I finally found a hobby!

So ever since I started high school, I struggled to find a hobby that I really enjoyed doing. Well, that has changed my friends! This semester I am in ceramics II, and I’m enjoying it so much more than ceramics I. In ceramics I, all of our projects were hand-built; while I enjoyed this, it was a long, tedious, and often frustrating process. In ceramics II, we learn how to use the wheels to build our projects. I found it kinda difficult at first, and I still have a long way to go before I’m good at it, but I LOVE throwing clay on the wheels. I can build a whole piece during eagle block; the process is much faster and it’s honestly super relaxing once I get into the rhythm of it. I spend at least one or two eagle blocks in the art room practicing, and I literally can’t get enough of it.

Not only do I enjoy physically using the wheels to throw clay, but I also became obsessed with watching videos on Instagram of other people throwing clay on the wheel. They’re super fun to watch, and they’re also helping me improve my own skills. Another technique I watch a lot of videos on is glazing, which is the process of decorating the clay pieces to give them color and a protective coating. I’ve gotten so much inspiration from all the things I’ve seen concerning glazing, and I can’t wait to try out all these new methods I’ve discovered. I just hope they look as nice as they do in my head!

I’ve become so interested and invested in this class that some of my classmates and I are going to talk to our guidance counselor to find out what would need to be done to create a ceramics III class. Our teacher is interested in teaching it already, so what’s in the way of trying to make it a possibility! I’m also going to do some research and find a pottery studio near here so I can continue working on this hobby even when I’m not in school. I’m super excited about it, I’m just hoping I continue to love it as much as I do now!