Last night, I had a dream: that I was creating pottery. The shape of the clay wasn’t holding and at one point David commented that “it’s no good. Look, there’s a hole in it.” My attitude was one of “try, try, again” because of course a pot, or a cup is of no use with a hole in it. So I started over.

Have you ever thrown pottery? Have you ever worked with clay?

It takes a lot of time. It’s messy. You don’t throw once to make a perfect product. You will make mistakes and have to correct them. You will have to start over a lot. You make a lot of adjustments. Patience and persistence is needed. And if you are a master artist, you are also the one having “the most fun” while doing it.

For me, a beginner, I’ve thrown pottery on a wheel once. Once, I visited artist Karen DeLoach’s house (https://www.karendeloachart.com/) with friends and she coached us one-by-one how to make a bowl in her pottery studio. Let’s be honest, Karen was actually shaping the bowl, by cupping her hands over mine and giving instructions on how to shape it, hold it, keep it wet, etc. all while quoting Jeremiah 18.

“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and saw that he was working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. Look carefully as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.” -Jeremiah 18:3-5- (Amplified version)

I found that clay is harder to manipulate than I originally thought. (We are stubborn like that aren’t we?) You have to press down and in with your thumbs pretty hard. You have to make deliberate choices with your hands and press into it for it to take shape. It’s not as easy as that Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze scene in the movie “Ghost” makes it appear. Perhaps you can “go with the flow” and not have a vision for your end creation in mind and “just see what happens.” This attitude sounds so freeing and liberating at first, but really might become frustrating for you. I was realizing that, if you don’t have balance and have even pressure on the clay you are working with, it will quickly become lumpy and uneven on one side. If you don’t correct it quickly (more clay and water), then it it becomes off-center on the spinning wheel. Now you are in trouble. Likewise, if you don’t press in enough with your hands, the clay piece won’t take shape. It can’t function like it’s supposed to function, for it’s end purpose. But, if you use too much force and just plow into it with too much pressure, you will make it crack, or worse; a hole in the bottom. Then, congratulations, you “ruined” it. Your piece must be restarted from the beginning. You have to rework it into a ball and throw it on the wheel again to start over. How many times do you have to do this to achieve what you want?

We are learning this lesson a lot. My daughter was gifted a kid’s mini pottery wheel for an early Christmas present this year. She asked for one and the grandparent’s delivered. God bless the grandparents! It is, however one thing to know how to do something. It’s an entirely different thing to not have a clue what you are doing and try to teach that to your kids. 🙂 We are humbly learning together while we make a mess on our clothes and in the kitchen. We have to start over and over again. Sometimes we “need to step away from the wheel” and come back later to try again. We have to clean up our messes. We need to keep persisting to “get it right.” We gave up on shaping with the “fancy tools” it comes with and starting free-shaping with our hands. And the kids version of this pottery is made to “air-dry.” You leave it alone overnight and it hardens, no firing required!

If you Google, “how to fire clay” you will learn about the 3-steps to firing it. Step 1: The clay must be set aside to “bone-dry” to be ready for firing. If it is slightly damp when placed into a kiln to fire, it WILL explode. You can start a “candling” process to fire your pottery on low-heat to “dry it out” before firing to ensure it is dry. This process takes a few hours to overnight. Step 2: Bisque-firing. This turns the clay into ceramic. The kiln must be heated to a minimum of 1832*F/1000*C to make it hard, but porous. This is considered a “low-firing.” Depending on the type of clay you are working with, your pottery piece may “be starting it’s process to become mature.” Step 3: Glaze-firing. This is when pottery gets decorated with different finishes, textures and colors to serve it’s function. The glaze makes it waterproof. Normally pottery needs several layers. This firing is done at a slightly lower temperature than the bisque-firing to avoid impurities/imperfections to the glaze layer. Thanks Google. I also read how you can “single-fire” raw clay, but this is considered a “master technique.” It saves time and energy, but it not recommended for beginners.

I think about where this year has taken our family. Bit by bit “chunks” of life: Where are we in this “process”? Sometimes the mundane feels like we are just “spinning around and around.” Are we making any “progress forward?” Times of hardship and transition feel like a “firing.” Is this a first-firing or second? How long is this going to last? “How long must I endure this ____?”

But the heat/pressure/firing is necessary. It might be unfathomably hard to go through or imagine, but it’s necessary. There will be another side. We will be more mature and suited to our purpose and creation on the other side of it. There is going to be purpose and life ahead on the “other side.” God is The Master Potter. He has us in his hands. He’s got this! (So you don’t have to have it all figured out! Yay!). Time is irrelevant and different on His timing. He cares so much for us in the careful and deliberate process. He will not let us move ahead in any of the steps when we are not ready because He knows our intended purpose. We are not mistakes. Have you been inside a pottery shop? The ending creations are all unique and slightly different. It’s the corrected flaws and styles and slight imperfections that make each piece one-of-a-kind.

This Christmas, know that you are one-of-a-kind! Rest knowing that you are not forgotten or lost in the process! He has the finished creation of you in mind!

Thank you Lord for restarts, encouragement, correction and timing and all of it! We know that we can trust you! We know that you see the beginning, the process and the end. You will leave us better and more beautiful than we could imagine! You know that we will be prepared for what is coming. We know that we will be better on the other side of hard things. You see your work and you know that it is good. You are the good Father who lovingly shapes us! We can trust you!

We used a National Geographic Pottery Wheel for Kids. It was about $20. It came with plastic shaping tools (which we found were hard to use). We focused on keeping the clay wet with the included sponge. This set came with two packages of air-dry clay (no firing required). Great for a few uses and we decided that we like free-throwing the clay, instead of trying to use all of the included tools. (We are not being paid for this review, just our honest, initial thoughts.)