Clay is an amazing natural material, warm, gentle and pliable, which can turn into anything, from a seemingly primitive children's toy to an amazing vase or elegant candlestick. Working with clay has a beneficial effect on the nervous system, relaxes, relieves stress. So clay modeling is not only an interesting creative activity that can turn into a favorite hobby. This is also a way to release accumulated negative energy, relieve tension, relax, and get a lot of positive emotions.

Of course, at home it is difficult to compete with modern ceramic production, with its the latest technologies, sophisticated equipment, new finishing materials. But it is possible to create products that are simple in technology. Any of them will retain the warmth of your hands, a part of your soul, and will be a real work of art in its own way. After all, there is no other plate or vase exactly like it anywhere else in the world...

Workshop at the dacha

Working with clay is quite a messy thing. In the sense that then you will have to wash everything and everyone. And if you can sculpt figures at home, in a city apartment, then creating your first masterpieces on a pottery wheel in an apartment is not very convenient. You have a strong desire to come into contact with the amazing natural material and try to master (even if clumsily for now, if only as entertainment) one of the oldest crafts - pottery? There is no better place for this than a dacha. This is where it is much easier to organize your workspace and place everything you need. It is at the dacha or in the village that work at the potter's wheel will be more organic, fitting into the surrounding landscape, like a touch to the origins, to folk history and culture.

Currently, there are entire specialized stores at the service of beginners and “advanced” ceramists, where you can purchase everything you need, from pottery wheels and different types clay and ending with a kiln for firing finished products. Don't worry, we won't need the oven just yet. This thing is expensive and not at all necessary at first. To begin with, it makes sense to learn how to make the simplest shapes on a pottery wheel and dry them correctly. And you can burn your creations, for example, in schools children's creativity or ceramic workshops where there is appropriate equipment. Or at first, leave it without firing at all. If the pottery craft “hooks” you seriously, if you feel that it is yours, then you can already think about the kiln. By the way, in the village you can make a wood-burning kiln yourself by turning to a master for help or using special literature.

Required Tools

It is clear that the potter's wheel is the main device that we cannot do without. About 7 thousand years have passed since some unknown genius invented and created the first pottery wheel. Since then, the principle of operation of this device has not changed at all. A potter's wheel is a small disk made of a smooth material (wood, plastic, stone, metal, etc.) with an axis rigidly attached to the bottom. A gear is attached to the opposite end of the axle, thanks to which the disk can rotate. The first pottery wheels were manual. Then the legs appeared. They are more convenient because they allow the master to free both hands for work. Most modern pottery wheels are electric. They are quite comfortable and make it easy physical work potter. Although some masters claim that a real pottery wheel is still a foot one. Only on it you can smoothly and flexibly regulate the rotation speed, which is very important for sculpting.

Now there is an opportunity to purchase a pottery wheel industrial production. As a rule, such circles are quite convenient to use. But there are DIY enthusiasts who make such circles on their own.

For more or less serious creativity, the battery-powered children's pottery wheels that have appeared on sale will not suit you. They belong to the category of toys; with some experience, you can make only very tiny products with them (for example, doll saucers). The battery power is not enough for more.

We will also need stacks for our work - special wooden or plastic tools for removing excess material and more carefully working out the details. In addition, you will need a wire with handles at the ends for cutting the product from the potter's wheel, for cutting clay and other work. Instead of wire, the thinnest guitar string will do. Its length should be approximately equal to the width of the shoulders.

Song of Clay

Clays can be very different in origin, mineral composition, and the content of various impurities. Industrial classification divides them into kaolins, clays, crackers (refractory clays) and shale clays (poorly soaked in water). There is such a thing as “fat” (plastic) and “lean” (dry) clay. For pottery work, the clay must be quite “oily”. Otherwise, it will not mold well and crack during firing. Moreover, the thinner and more elegant the product, the more fatty clay is used for it. The color of the clay also varies. It can be red, brown, green, blue, white, gray and even chocolate or dirty black. The color of clay is given by the oxides of various metals: aluminum, iron, titanium. If their total number does not exceed 1%, the product will be white both before and after firing. If the oxide content is more than 1%, ready product will turn red even if the wet clay was green or blue.

Perhaps the best way out for beginning potters is to buy ready-made clay in specialized stores or ceramics factories. Most often, pottery clay is sold in powder form. It is already cleared of impurities and has all the necessary additives. It just needs to be prepared correctly. It is better to learn more about how to do this from the consultants in the store.

Before starting work, even with clay that is completely ready for use, it is necessary to perform one more very important operation - “breaking”. Roll on wooden board roller of clay and tear it into two parts in a motion similar to twisting laundry. Then forcefully throw the pieces onto the table, fold them, roll them and tear them apart again. The procedure must be repeated 20-25 times. This is done in order to remove air bubbles from the clay and achieve a uniform consistency. The remaining air will greatly interfere with working on the pottery wheel and can tear the finished product during firing. Instead of tearing the lump of clay with your hands, you can cut it using wire. By the way, many masters consider this method more correct. After this, we proceed to the so-called spiral kneading. It's done like this. The prepared piece of clay is placed on the table, with both palms placed on top. The main load should fall on the lower parts of the palms. Press your palms onto the clay, as if pushing it away from you, while simultaneously turning your palms slightly counterclockwise. If everything is done correctly, you will hear light pops of bursting air bubbles. Then release the clay and slightly turn the entire lump clockwise, returning it to its original place. The operation is repeated 30-40 times. Try to avoid folds, as unnecessary air can hide in them.

Finally our clay is ready. Let's start sculpting. Be prepared for the fact that at first nothing will work out for you. This is fine. If possible, watch a craftsman work on a potter's wheel or, better yet, take a few pottery lessons. Nowadays, more and more similar creative courses and master classes are appearing. If this is not possible, you will have to master the skill through trial and error. An intelligent self-instruction book with a step-by-step description of the work and picture diagrams will be very useful for this. It should be noted that the main way to master pottery is repeated repetition. Try to ensure that your hands perform mechanical work almost automatically. Look at your work as a student exercise. And don't despair. As you know, it is not the gods who burn the pots. In pottery there are no strict rules regarding how to make dishes, and skill comes with experience.

So let's try it. Cut a piece of clay with a wire, give it a rounded shape and place it in the center of the machine, lightly pressing it to the surface. If the clay is off-center, straighten it with your hands and then run the potter's wheel. The clay must be placed exactly in the center, otherwise it will spin unevenly and eventually jump off the wheel. Perhaps this is the most difficult thing for beginners - to learn how to lay out clay strictly in the center. The centered piece appears almost motionless; the clay should not bend or move. The correct placement of the potter's hands is very important. The elbows should be pressed to the body, and the bent hands with the wrists slightly closer should be held on a rotating piece of clay. You need to try to relax your hands as much as possible; movements should be soft and smooth, without sudden jerks.

The movements you make with your hands depend on the shape you want to achieve. Let's say we decided to make a jug. Having pressed down the clay, make a bun or a small dome out of it, smoothed on the sides. Now squeeze the clay with both hands and, lifting them, transform the dome into a cone, and then back into a dome. With your right thumb, mark the center at the top of the dome and begin to gradually press your finger vertically into it. The remaining fingers are located outside the dome. Squeeze some water out of the sponge into the hole formed. To move the clay to the sides, lower the fingers of your left hand inward to the bottom of the recess, and place the fingers of your right hand on the outer wall. Press down on the surface of the product with your left hand. Hands should be constantly moistened with water. Extend the cylinder to the desired final height. Touch the bottom of the product with the end of the middle finger of your left hand, and press the bent index finger and thumb of your right hand to the outside. To stretch the walls, move your hands from the bottom to the top. Try to keep the walls the same thickness. the main task at this stage - get a smooth, hollow inside cylinder with a bottom. Then we begin to transform it into a vase, jug or other intended product. There are certain rules for this:

• if you press on the inside of the cylinder, its walls will stretch with the expansion of the shape. Hands should be both inside and outside the cylinder, one against the other, together determining the wall thickness and the amount of pressure;
• to stretch the neck of the jug, you need to grab its top from the outside with both hands and squeeze it to the desired size;
• if the jug is supposed to have a narrow neck, be careful not to accidentally expand it too much;
• it is convenient to remove the water that collects at the bottom of the product with a sponge placed on a wire;
• try turning out a thin edge of the product, using your fingers to round it to the outside and wrap it up. This way you will get a decorative detail characteristic of pottery;
• If you need to make a spout, grasp the edge of the jug with two fingers of your left hand and press between them with the index finger of your right.

The larger the ceramic product you want, the more difficult it is to make. Therefore, it is better to start with small saucers and plates. To do this, you need to place a clay disk of small height in the center of the potter's wheel, corresponding to the size of the future plate. The bottom should be done most carefully, because for flat products it is the most vulnerable spot. The clay here needs to be pressed harder. Then use your thumb and forefinger to lift the clay away from the outer edge to form a rounded rim. After this, we begin to smooth out the side of the plate, slightly squeezing the clay and at the same time stretching it to the sides. Do not thin the walls of the product too much, otherwise they will crack and “swell” during firing.

Drying and decorating

When the product is ready and you are satisfied with it, cut it from the circle with a special wire with two handles. Pull the wire under the bottom of the product twice, then slide it off the circle and transfer it to a stand moistened with water. Now comes the next important stage - drying. The main task is to ensure that the clay dries evenly, otherwise it will crack. Therefore, avoid drafts and direct sunlight. Wipe the product with a damp sponge or wet hands, removing any irregularities, then cover with a damp cloth and place to dry in a closed box (preferably galvanized).

After about a day, when the product has dried a little, take it out of the box, carefully clean it with fine sandpaper and begin finishing works. For example, the surface of a jug or vase can be “smoothed”. To do this, rub it with some smooth object. At the same time, the top layer of clay becomes denser and begins to shine. After firing, such dishes shine even more. Texture finishing can also be done on soft clay. Stamps are cut out of wood or rubber. By pressing them into wet clay in a certain sequence, you can get a unique pattern or ornament. Interesting prints are obtained by pressing coarse burlap onto clay. You can also apply a pattern or design by scratching. It is performed with an awl, knife or other sharp object.

In addition, a very popular type of finishing of pottery is engobes painting. Engobes are specially prepared liquid clays. This type of painting is carried out on a wet, dry, or even fired product. The decorative composition is applied with a brush, spray, or the product is immersed in a container with a solution. After such painting, the products are fired at a temperature of 700-800°C.

A higher degree of finishing is glazing. Glaze is a thin glassy coating that is formed when silicate compounds are fused onto the surface of a clay product; it can also be purchased at specialty stores or ceramics factories. They protect ceramics from contamination and make it more durable. Glazes can be very different: transparent, colored, colorless. Enamel is a type of glaze. It is opaque and is used as a base for ceramic paint. The enamel is applied by pouring, dried, and then the ceramics are painted with special paints. When the paints are completely dry, the product is fired.

Special electric furnaces are usually used for firing. If you have access to such equipment, firing is carried out as follows. After drying and decorating, the product is placed in the oven for 1.5-3 hours for additional drying at a temperature of 150°C. First, the temperature in the oven is raised slowly until all the moisture has evaporated. Then every 30-40 minutes the temperature is raised by 50°C and brought to 400°C. When the product begins to turn red, the temperature is increased more sharply - by 100°C every hour and brought to 800-900°C. This heat is maintained for an hour and the oven is turned off. During the first hours, cooling should proceed slowly until the temperature drops to 450-400°C. When the temperature drops to 200°C, the oven can be opened. The product is removed only when it has cooled to room temperature. The entire cooling process usually takes 10-12 hours. Now, if necessary, the product is painted with glazes, and then the entire firing process is repeated again so that the glaze melts.

Clay consumption

It is very useful to know how much clay you need to take to make a particular product of a certain size. As a rule, beginners take too much clay, and this is one of the reasons for possible failures. To make a tea saucer with a bottom diameter of 13 cm, we will need approximately 800 g of clay; for a dinner plate with a bottom diameter of 23 cm, the weight of clay will increase to 1400 g. For a mug with a height of 9 cm or a jug with a volume of 0.2 liters, only 350 g of clay will be required. A half-liter jug ​​will be made from 500 g of clay, and a teapot from 1000 g. Add a spout (250 g) and a lid (250 g) to the kettle. It is recommended to keep a kind of diary where you will write down information on each of your products: how much clay was required for the product and parts (lids, spouts, handles), some features of the technology, etc. Here you can sketch interesting products seen in museums or at exhibitions, make sketches of your own vases and jugs, which currently exist only in your imagination. Such records will help improve your skills, avoid making gross mistakes, and save on long years mass useful information, which otherwise will certainly be forgotten.

It is clear that it is very difficult to learn how to use a pottery wheel by reading just one short article. You will need a lot of time, hard work and a good mentor or smart tutorial. And who knows, maybe your wonderful works will not only decorate your home, but will also take their rightful place at ceramics exhibitions.

Victoria Beloborodova

I would never have thought that pottery could be so interesting and exciting. But it turned out that this is exactly the case. And I was convinced of this personally when I attended a pottery class, where I made a vase with my own hands.

The lesson took place in a cozy studio with a crazy view of the Gulf of Finland from the 14th floor. There I was met by a girl, Angelica, who was my teacher. First I had to draw a sketch of what I would like to do. Then Angelica told us a little theory and sat us down at the pottery wheel.

1. They gave me a piece of clay - just enough to fit in my palms, and I could work with it. But before you put the clay on the potter's wheel, you need to beat it well in your hands, make a kolobok and at the same time remove all the air from the clay.

2. You know what fascinates me most about such activities is the opportunity to create something out of nothing. So they gave me a piece of clay and from this I decided to make a vase. To be honest, I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to make any vase. Not only do I not know how to draw, and the vase in my sketch looks more like a trapezoid, and doing something with my hands is not my story...

3. But since it’s already arrived, we begin working with clay on the potter’s wheel. Don't be surprised by a basin of water :) Water is necessary tool when working with clay.

4. An upset face and a red nose give away the fact that I was crying; I couldn’t “calm down” the clay and because I didn’t understand how to do it, I burst into tears. These are creative torments

5. And at some point I even wanted to get up and leave. But it’s worth giving credit to Master Angelica - she helped me believe in my strength and didn’t even show that something was wrong.

6. In general, it’s very pleasant to tinker with clay!

7. The most interesting thing is that I am starting the first steps for my future vase.

8. Do you know when you swim in reservoirs with a muddy bottom, your legs sink slightly and seem to be sucked under? There are very similar sensations here when you insert your finger inside the clay.

9. I need to make an extension in several passes.

10. This is where the excitement begins - glimpses appear that something can really be made from clay.

11. That's what I've done! Angelica helps to “calm” the clay
12. Hop, and the bulge is ready!

13. I begin to form the bottom of the vase.

14. After shaping the bottom and working on expanding the top, my vase is almost ready! All that remains is to remove excess moisture, which is what I do with this sponge on a stick.

15. Now I have a thin wire in my hands, with which I “cut” the finished product from the pottery wheel.

16. Angelica puts water between the bottom of the product and the circle so that my flowerpot can be easily removed.

17. Voila! A piece of clay, a few tears, a basin of water and a flowerpot is ready

Alexander Berdin-Lazursky is Samara's Billy Milligan: some know him as a designer and photographer, others as a musician, and a year ago he added to the list of hobbies ceramics. Every evening Alexander moves from the office computer to international company to the pottery wheel to create a new batch of dishes, improve the skill of working with clay and porcelain, and then pass it on to students. With the support of the “Masters of Russia” project, we talked to him about whether it is really possible to make money from pottery, who chooses exclusive tableware instead of standard cups from Ikea, why ceramics consists of solid fakaps, and most importantly, how long it will take to become a real master.

Equipment for 260 thousand and the first perfect batch

It just so happens that in life I have quite a lot of hobbies: I am a photographer, designer, musician, teacher, sixth-grade turner - and this is not the whole list. My family and friends are used to me doing different things, so when it came to ceramics, no one was even surprised.

I became interested in pottery because it allows you to create a real thing. It’s one thing when you’ve been developing a website design for a month, and then the lights are turned off - and there’s nothing in front of you, but it’s another thing when you’re holding a real object with its own structure, material, weight and shape in your hands. This really resonated with me. Then I thought that dishes were the perfect thing to create, which I could use all my design skills.

I like to learn everything on my own, without mentors, and even five years ago there was no one in Samara who could help me in my new hobby. I took a couple of lessons at the Union of Artists, but quickly realized that this was not what I needed. There people are focused on making sculptures, panels, paintings and stained glass. Dishes for them are too banal, but for me even a mug is a huge mystery, because you need to take into account a bunch of factors - the thickness of the wall and bottom, the curvature of the touch to the lip, the position of the handle and its shape, heat capacity, color, weight. As a result, I bought equipment and set up a workshop at home right next to my bed - wrapped everything around plastic film and sat like Dexter. My wife sleeps at night, and I spin. The pottery wheel and kiln cost me 260 thousand, but I decided that this was a great motivation not to turn back.

I found answers to any questions on Google. But ceramists started creating chats only now; they didn’t exist a year ago. For the first six months I did a lot of things, but time after time the products died: they exploded in the oven, spread or broke during turning. It’s a pity that I never found a teacher, because under the guidance of a professional, results can be achieved tens of times faster.

Now I notice that the guys who come to us, after three classes, do things that I only achieved in six months.

I like to take risks, so I never made samples: I put a whole batch into the oven, rather than each mug individually. At some point, the stars aligned and all the products survived. The glaze, shape, and colors matched. But it turned out that the most difficult thing was to repeat your success. I suffered for another month - I seemed to do the same thing, but nothing worked. We had to change the technology once again in order to get good results all the time.

At that moment I gave almost all the dishes to friends. People often ask for a product as a gift if they see you making something. I agreed with pleasure, but warned that I would soon begin to do even better, and the gift had already been presented. This didn’t stop my friends, but in vain, because it’s much more profitable to ask me for something now.

Workshop and collaboration

After nine months of working at home, I realized it was time to look for a workshop. The fact is that it is quite difficult to keep your apartment clean when you are constantly mixing and grinding clay. Even then I had an ideal picture in my head: I was sitting somewhere on the first floor, spinning dishes on a pottery wheel, and people were passing by, looking into the windows and asking me something. In the end, everything came true.

One day Sasha Lyulakina came to me, said that she had graduated from a pottery school in Voronezh and offered to join forces. I agreed, and we rented a room on Chapaevskaya, 92 - we found it through friends and quite quickly. And most importantly, it fully corresponded to my idea of ​​an ideal workshop.

Since I do ceramics after my day job and can’t spend the whole day at the pottery wheel, we started looking for someone cool who could work in the workshop with Sasha all the time. As a result, we made friends with the girls from the creative studio Lepco - they sculpt with their hands, and not on a circle, so we strengthened each other, became an excellent team, and now I don’t know of a more thorough ceramic organization in Samara than ours.

Now the workshop operates as a coworking space, and I like it. People come, pay 300 rubles per hour and can use all the materials they see. The guys create, and we tell them if they need help. I think this is the perfect way to create an artistic atmosphere for people who do the same thing.

The only problem is that many people still don’t know that you can come to us just like that, so I also organize training courses. One of them lasts three days - during this time a person gains basic skills and can make his own dishes. It costs 4,500 rubles and is very popular because it allows you to understand whether you like ceramics in general. The second course will cost 18,000 rubles, but with it you can master many more techniques and forms. In addition, during the entire training you have the opportunity to use the coworking space unlimitedly to hone your skills.

Earnings and demand

I still don't have a client base. I'm a designer and don't want to do sales - I like crafting and drawing much more. But when there were too many dishes at home, I decided that I could sell the best items. I gave the first mug to the buyer myself, but to do this I had to leave the house, take money, give the item - it’s too stressful for me. Now my friend Nastya Ryazanova from the Garden N studio is selling products. We met because I photographed weddings, and she worked in the same field as a florist. I just donate things to her store, and now this is the only place where you can buy them.

The cost depends only on how much I want to part with this or that copy. The materials are not very expensive, but I sit with this mug for three days, and then bake it for the same amount of time. Moreover, all this time there is a chance of losing the product. Let’s not forget about his five sisters, who crashed at some stage before they managed to get the perfect copy. If an illustrator worked on the mug, it will cost about 3,000 rubles, because it unique item, to which the master of his craft had a hand. The dishes that only I worked on cost 1000 rubles. It continues to be unique, but it does not bear the imprints of several people with whom I have to share the profits.

I have never sought to make money from any of my hobbies. It so happened that since childhood I have lived with the constant feeling that I could die right now. If I start wasting time on something I don't like, it will be very unwise. I love designing, so I enjoy going to work in the office every day. And then I leave with joy, because I go where I like it, perhaps even more. It seems to me that if you love something, then sooner or later all the costs will pay off.

Materials and technology

Working with ceramics is a long process. First, you take a lump of clay and knead it so that there are no air bubbles left inside. This is important because otherwise the cookware may crack. Then the most favorite part for many is the pottery wheel. You twist the clay and it takes on a certain shape. After this, the product is dried for about a day and then the clay becomes hard, but still remains wet. This is an ideal state when it can be sharpened, a neck can be made, or a handle can be attached to a mug. Then the clay dries for a few more days and the dishes are sent to the oven for nine hours. When the product has cooled, paint it or cover it with glaze, and then send it back for baking.

As a rule, I buy Spanish, German or French clay - in these countries they have learned to make masses that are pleasant to work with. Sometimes I take porcelain, but it is quite expensive - for 10 kilograms you will have to pay 3,000 rubles. From such a block you will get approximately 15 cups, some of which will be discarded.

Mostly everyone uses store-bought glazes, but you can make your own. I did it and it's perfect new level. Working with a purchased one is the same as processing photos with ready-made presets on Instagram. I started making my own recipes because I didn't want to deprive myself of one dimension of uniqueness.

Failures in ceramics

Ceramics are very fickle, so a person quickly ceases to value what he makes. And this most important quality for the artist, because it helps to gain freedom of expression. When you are ready to lose your job at any moment, you have the opportunity to quickly and fluidly create something new.

I can do everything right, but the mug will end up with a crack. If you can’t grind it off, the product will have to be thrown away. It's very frustrating at first, considering how much time and work you put into it, but then you start to take things lightly. This is an interesting life school.

Ceramics consists of failures - my entire Instagram is full of them. Every now and then I beat the cups away from the stove with a hammer because they are welded tightly, or I pull out a product that has blurred, boiled, peeled off or exploded. The most offensive thing is when something painted by an artist bursts. Creative people react differently: some are very worried about their work. But last time I was lucky - the girl simply said that she would draw more. I was very glad.

Almost every one of my works contains gold, and this is not an accident. Imagine that you are in the 14th century, there is darkness all around and a huge temple stands in the middle of it. Inside, everything is in gold, loud music is playing, the best artists of our time are painting on the walls. It’s also safe there and sometimes they even provide food. In general, a person gets everything he wants, and also gold - as an emphasis on the fact that everything else is there too. So when I use gold, it's like I'm telling people, “Look, there's something else here. This thing deserves to have gold on it.”

Ceramics begins to develop. Already now from Khokhloma patterns we moved on to cats, flowers and realistic pomegranates. It looks nice, but I understand that these are not unique things, but just decorative elements. Soon the fashion for all this will pass and modern ceramics - designer ones - will take the place of outdated products. Artists will begin to strive for uniqueness and express themselves through shapes, textures, colors.

My ceramics also cannot yet be called modern: first you repeat, then you begin to modify the result, and only then you isolate something of your own. I'm still at the repetition stage - I'm looking at English ceramicists and studying their style. Contemporary American ceramics touches me a little less, although there are more creative, crazy styles.

With the pottery boom coming, the amount of information is growing rapidly. People create their own workshops, and it's very cool. In Samara, the sphere is developing exponentially quickly. I recently organized a meeting of potters, which was attended by ten people - and that's not all. I keep an eye on what my colleagues are doing because you always need to be aware of what is happening. True, I find it much more interesting to study Foreign experience- I get to know new techniques and test them.

I love my job because it is not work at all. I plan to turn what I do from creativity into art - I want to create something beautiful. I think when a couple of English magazines write about me, I will be able to say that I am doing something really important for the world.

I recently completed a raku ceramics course, which became a full-fledged philosophy lesson for me. For a month and a half I built my relationship with the clay mass and tried to tame it, scratching my hands until they bled. In this post I will talk about attempts to master the technique of pottery, about what qualities can working with clay teach, and why do they always keep a first aid kit in a ceramic workshop?

First, let me put you in context. The classes took place in a ceramic workshop-shop near the Roman bridge in Verona. The workshop is run by Andrea. He has a gentle character, big hands and absolutely magnificent hair like Pierre Richard. I have long been convinced that such a curly mop of hair is a special distinctive sign of heaven. Perhaps that is why I unknowingly chose the owner of beautiful springy curls as my husband.
In the reflection of the display case, you can distinguish my companions on the journey into the world of pottery art: Andrea, Maria and Valentina. With this group we sculpted pots to the music of Led Zeppeling.

Maria is a highly qualified Sinologist (Sinologist) and works at the Italian Embassy in Beijing. She is currently undergoing treatment in Verona and decided to try pottery therapy. Maria is self-sufficient and highly intelligent, she knows how to quickly concentrate and listen to clay. She sculpted pots, one better than the other, and then signed them with hieroglyphs.

Valentina is a forty-year-old woman with teenage antics. She is tough and bristly, like a wild kitten. She has thin fingers, contrasting with her rough character. And her speech is stuffed with strong words. But Valentina had a wonderful artistic overalls, which had been preserved from her studies at the Brera Art Academy in Milan. It was for this battered overalls that I was ready to forgive her everything. It was a piece of living artistic history. He was simply magically splashed with multi-colored paint, and for some reason there was a huge hole on each buttock. When working on a potter's wheel, some kind of uniform is extremely necessary, since the clay mass squishes and splashes in all directions. I used an apron and rubber boots. Maria - shoe covers and a change of clothes. If you decide to take a pottery course, you will also need to cut your nails short.

Now I’ll move on to the stages of building relationships with clay. It was not possible to take a full series of photographs, since my hands were covered in clay almost all the time, and I took photographs in fits and starts.

First, it was necessary to thoroughly knead the clay mass, performing 60 circular kneading movements. Before transferring the clay lump to the potter's wheel, you should pat it thoroughly with your hands. Valentina kept joking that at the end of the working day it was very pleasant to spank something)). Then it was necessary to throw the workpiece onto the potter's wheel with a rather barbaric, strong, decisive slap. I even felt somehow uncomfortable in front of clay. But if you throw it lightly and inaccurately, the clay mass may jump off during the work.

Next, the most difficult and hectic stage of “alignment” began. I would call this stage “taming the clay.” The clay workpiece had to be pressed down and then pushed up. As you perform these manipulations, the clay will resist, push and “beat” in your hands. In addition, it will be quite scratchy on your hands, since the clay mass for raku consists of 25 percent small granules.

I read that in ancient times in Asia, potters were blindfolded with a blindfold to heighten their tactile senses and enable them to concentrate better. During the second lesson, I tried to close my eyes and concentrate properly. In just a minute I managed to center it! I immediately shared this discovery with my fellow students. And Maria told us that in China, blind massage therapists are considered the best. The hands of a blind person are naturally endowed with hypersensitivity. Such massage therapists work in black bandages and are capable of delivering indescribable pleasure. But after I talked about the “closed eyes” technique, it immediately stopped working... The ability to concentrate is still an obsession for me.

After centering, you can finally begin to manipulate the shape. First you need to squeeze out the bottom with your thumb, and then push the walls of the pot apart and work out the thickness. During this time, you must not lose concentration. One awkward move and everything can fall apart like a house of cards. It was precisely at the stage of working out the thickness of the walls that I ruined two pots.

While working the bottom from the outside, it was possible to have a little fun, reducing the level of concentration. The potter's wheel rotates and you cut out beautiful thin shavings of clay.

Finishing and decorating are my favorite stages. There is no longer any need to tame anything and fanatically follow the process. It was necessary to rub the product on all sides with a special rubber slice, sand the edges, cut off excess, and sweep away clay crumbs. For this purpose, the workshop had a whole set various instruments: stacks with metal tips, wooden sticks, brushes. These devices are incredibly easy to maneuver.

It was even possible to introduce decorative fantasy skills. Squeeze various ornaments out of plaster with stamps or add texture using pieces of wood.

The next stage is signing. For some reason I decided to sign with my full name. Perhaps to contrast his vanity signature with his awkward creations. Having seen my non-compact signature, a graphologist-psychologist would probably have declared a high degree of my egocentrism. Subsequently, I discovered that other students signed either with initials or with a symbol - a crescent or even a cross. By the way, about the signature. I recently had a real culture shock. I saw with my own eyes how a third-generation Italian notary signed. Can you imagine a sweeping, incredibly loaded signature occupying one quarter of an A4 sheet of paper? And with a huge amount loops, just not as sharp as Putin’s, but voluminous and rounded.

The final stage - glazing and firing - took place in a separate workshop. The photo shows the creations of students from the initial raku sculpting course. To do something like this on a pottery wheel you need to study for a long time.

The painting and firing workshop was located in rural areas not far from my house. It was a small fenced-off room in a stable. Therefore, we painted and fired while the horses neighed and snorted. During the time spent there, I almost learned to distinguish all the variety of their sound signals. The horses had such a sad and restless look that their heart sank.

Colors could be chosen from numerous samples that were laid out on the tables. Then you had to find a can with the desired paint and immerse your product in it for about three seconds.

Then Andrea sent the dried painted products into the kiln, where they were fired at a temperature of 900°.

When he took the hot items out of the oven, in the first seconds the color underwent amazing metamorphoses, transforming at the speed of light. Absolute magic.

To cool the vases, we doused them with cold water. As they cooled, they crackled and clicked iridescently, as if they were talking and indignant. In this photo you can still see traces of burning, which were then wiped off with a sponge.

And here are my creations. From right to left you can trace a slight evolution from the first to the last lesson. Due to the more or less allowable height, I decided to make the second glass with careless drips of green enamel. True, when you try to make them on purpose, it turns out anything but artistic. The yellow and purple bowl was supposed to be yellow and blue, because I wanted to dedicate it to my men who support the yellow and blue team Hellas Verona. This is the only product where color was important to me. But according to Murphy's law, out of fifty colors, someone mixed up the lids of purple and blue. Therefore, dedication to the men who let me go the course almost overnight did not take place.

In conclusion, I will tell you what an important lesson in philosophy the pottery course taught me. Initially, I thought that I lacked physical strength. In the second lesson, after an hour of futile attempts to concentrate, I pressed so hard on the clay ball that I felt a sharp pain in my hands. Stopping the potter's wheel, I looked at my hands and saw drops of fresh blood seeping through the clay. The drops quickly swelled, and before I managed to come to my senses, blood was already flowing down my palms. They immediately brought me a package of adhesive plasters and gloves. It turns out that such incidents sometimes happen, so a first aid kit in a ceramic workshop is always at hand. But I especially hurt my hands. There were flat sores on almost all the fingers, on the folds of the phalanges and even on the palms. I barely made it home by car. And then for another two days I could not maneuver my hands at all, and the wounds finally healed only after two weeks. In order to alleviate the pain at least a little in the first days, I had to keep my hands all the time in a half-bent static position, exactly like on a potter’s wheel, as if as a reminder. But now I know what it’s like when your husband washes your hair)). Interesting experience.

I think my mistake was that I tried to tame it. Technically. You can't suppress. It’s not always you who will dictate the rules in life. Pottery teaches patience and the ability to listen. Teaches a lesson in mutual respect and finding common language with the outside world. It’s not for nothing that I wounded my hands so badly that they bled.