Which is better, "wheel throwing" or "hand building"? 

 

• Wheel throwing and hand building are two entirely different techniques, however, because of its immediate satisfaction hand building is preferred by most. To fully understand wheel throwing one must completely understand the idea that "practice makes perfect" and perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Learning something new takes time, practice, and patience, and working with clay is no different. There are no shortcuts.  Each person has their own personal learning curve and should be patient with themselves and with the clay in order to create something desirable. Some key ingredients to learning how to use the potter's wheel are focus, calmness of breath, and persistence. I highly recommend Yoga. 

 

• In all my years of teaching, no one has ever "failed" in either handbuilding or wheel throwing. It's unfortunate that our school systems use the word "failure" as an instrument of scholastic measurement, however, I like to use the term "speed bumps" instead of the word "failure".  If an individual learns something new through trial and error (a.k.a. "failure"/speed bumps) then that person has gained knowledge and insight.  And isn't gaining knowledge and insight the entire reason for the effort?  

 

• The Wright brothers never gave up on flight and neither should you.  Life is our playground to knowledge, so embrace each lesson as it presents its self and move on.

 

True freedom comes from how you respond to life and not what life does to you.