Hello friends,
Since my last batch, I've been really inspired by a quote my partner told me from a podcast.
"The way to accelerate your growth rate is to double your failure rate." - Tom Watson.
Making any ceramic piece is a two week process (at least) that includes throwing/building wet clay, allowing it to dry slowly, firing it once, sanding, adding glaze, firing it again, and sanding and polishing. Something can happen at any point in the process that might lead to a piece coming out cracked, exploded, or just really ugly. It's heartbreaking when this happens and my instinctive reaction is to become more risk averse.
My mind felt a need to play it safe and continue doing what I know, but my soul felt the desire to keep finding my voice and exploring, despite the fear of failure. This quote shifted my perception to think of each failure as a "leveling up" instead of a setback.
I repeated this quote to myself every time I felt hesitant to try a new technique or application in my work. I allowed myself to lead with curiosity. And when I ruined pieces with ugly glaze application or accidentally sliced through them while carving my sake sets, I sighed and just started another.
About 40% of this batch did not make it into this collection, but that 40% pushed me much closer to finding my own voice in this medium.
I'm happy with the end result of this collection and I hope you enjoy them too!
xx Tammy
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