Lucia Urns

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Making Large Urns: Concentration and Contentment

Sitting with the sun deliciously at my back all day while throwing large urns, I caught a glimpse of sunlight on my red rubber rib tool. 
Sometimes magic happens.
Is it me, or some creative force beyond my realm of comprehension. It's like the red rib touched the pot like a wand... and poof... the pot became.

These last couple of long days making large urns have left me with tired hands, a content mind, and a sense of accomplishment. The concentration it takes to create these forms is amazing to me. I go into a zone that feels like I am one with the clay.

Each step is carefully repeated to have the same outcome for each urn, (as it is for all my repeated forms) but these are different, they are nearly 7 lbs of cream cheese like porcelain. So I intently concentrate, remembering the pressure of each push and pull of the clay with my finger tips... from one urn to the next.

The dog barks and the mind wanders for a split second... the fingers slip, the wall of the clay gets too thin. I try to save it to no avail, I think for a moment... I can make it into a different form... it's not totally lost, but my muscle memory would be. So I crush it, and put it back on the wedging table and grab the next piece of wedged clay, and begin the process of centering again.