A day with the potter

A day with the potter

Which potter am I talking of! The common potter not the proper Potter. Tricked ya! Here it is. I am talking of my experience with a professional potter not our famous Harry Potter.

“No, not at all “is the answer if the question in your mind is “Is she going to rant off about a day off she had!”.  I was very much in the school and had some wonderful experience with the potter’s wheel. It was sort of dream come true.

It goes back to the days when I was a teenager (or was I in my grad school!!), I saw a movie (don’t ask me which one as my memory of movie names is too poor) in which the lady in the movie was working at the potter’s wheel molding away some beautiful piece she has in mind, with very soft but energetic music playing as a back score. It looked so de-stressing and almost meditative to me. From that day on, I had this craving in me to try my hand at the potter’s wheel.

For my elder daughter’s seventh birthday, our family chose to celebrate it at a place called “Color Me Mine” – a paint-your-own ceramics studio. She picked up a ceramic penguin as her gift and we colored it with paints and glazes provided. I noticed on the shelves few clay pieces too. My craving rose again and I asked the staff if they had a potter’s wheel there for me to try but they said “Sorry ma’am, we only have a high capacity oven to glaze your creations and hand it back to you.” Well, my family brought up my spirits by poking the beautifully painted blue and white penguin with grey tail, bright black eyes and a cute smile, into my face.

Just a few years back when I visited the village museum at Shilparamam for the first time, I was thrilled to see a potter’s wheel in the Village Museum showcasing the Terracotta article making. I asked the authorities there if we could try the wheel. They said “No Ma’am, it’s only for display.” Well, I at least saw the potter’s wheel in close quarters.

Yesterday I accompanied my class to where the professional potter was seated, the area near the sports field of our school. He was invited to our school to have our kids make their own diya for Diwali. It’s beyond doubt that all Sancta Marians enjoyed the diya making thoroughly. As for me, I was thrilled when I heard teachers could try their hand at the potter’s wheel too. I (with the help of the potter, of course) made a small flower vase and carried it with my clay drenched hands (wanted to feel the clay on my hands as long as possible) and set it up on my table to dry. At last, my craving is appeased.