I am now halfway through my journey on this independent study and I have been asked to spend this week’s blog post reflecting on my experience so far. 

One of the main things I have learned while doing pottery on my own is self motivation. If I had not chosen to learn about something that I am passionate about, I would have struggled so much with being able to complete the required tasks for an independent study at my school. So much of my drive to do well depends on whether I feel I am working on something meaningful or not, and with pottery, I know it is meaningful to me, making it easier for me to produce quality work. I have also learned that having this blog has been the most important part of holding myself accountable to my work. The structure around writing a blog post every week and having personal standards for how my blog is run is what has been the backbone to this project. I have learned that sometimes I am not productive when I do not have structure so the blog has forced me to be productive.

In terms of this week, I worked mostly on making platters which is less exciting to me but it is a fun skill to practice. I have no use for a platter but it is a unique shape and takes a lot of skill to be able to make it flat and wide enough. Centrifugal force was my biggest enemy in the process. With a wider form, you are trying to bring the clay outwards as much as possible without letting it get out of control and collapse. I have posted a video along with this post that shows me attempting to make a platter. You can see in the video that when the clay is pulled outward too far or gets too thin, it will collapse.