Ebb and Flow of Inspiration/Frustration

Inspiration comes and goes. Sometimes, a deadline can inspire lovely pots. Sometimes, it can inspire frustration. With my latest deadline - 75 two-piece foot-soaking bowls by the end of June - I seem to have created many opportunities to curse my circumstances while setting up my workshop and attempting to get into any kind of rhythm. Broken foot pedals, inoperative jigsaws, a malfunctioning pickup truck, two S-cracks, misplaced tools, broken down lawnmower....

I've got 14 bowls so far, 16 if you count the two that cracked. Part of my frustration is that I've had to set up a workspace in a building that I've been planning to renovate for years but haven't found the time. I built a tool shed so I could empty this space of my huge collection of boxes containing a mishmash of electrical, plumbing, construction and pottery related items and all those other things that I just can't seem to get rid of.

Yesterday, I was working on two wheels, finally getting into a rhythm, when my Laguna wheel spit out one of its rubber belts.

"Unbelievable," I thought to myself. "I'll have to order some more of those." And I just kept on throwing.

I'm feeling a shift in the tide. Things are flowing more freely from here on out.

Starting the top of bowl on the right
while bottom stiffens on the left

Finished parts drying

Finished bowls in differents stages of drying