Hands on Pottery

Yesterday I had a real good time in the South Indian Carnival @ southindies. And yeh I was there for a photo shoot :P Now don't ask me if I'm planning to change my profession. Not yet ;) The funny thing is when I showed my hand to the palmist, he mistook me as a professional photographer and was telling that my career line is very strong and so is the creative mount. So according to him the profession that I have chosen(photography) is very much apt for me. I was trying hard to suppress my laughter and didn't bother to correct him either :D

Anyway there were other fun things in the carnival and the one that caught my attention was the potter's wheel. I live very near to Pottery Town and have gone there a couple of times. I have always marveled at the way they transform a lump of mud to a beautiful art piece. Although I had enquired there about the classes they were not so keen to teach it to an outsider :( So you can imagine my excitement when I could really try my hands out at the wheel for the first time. But it wasn't as easy as it looked and the instructor was constantly reminding me that it needs lots of practice and I can't expect to master it in the first try. Anyway I am happy to have come out with something although with lot of imperfections. This is the final output.





Now that I'm at it I'll post some of my older works too. Of course the pots were made by the experts in pottery town. Only the designs on top of it is done by me.


The sunflower petals and leaves were made using ceramic powder and pasted to the pot using fevicol and later painted using acrylic colors.


If you are the lazy types like me, then this grape pot will work for you. Just roughen the surface of the pot using some white cement and then make the grape bunches by just rolling the ceramic paste to small balls. The tendrils n leaves can also be made easily. Then paste it using fevicol n paint. Your grape pot is ready :)

If you are even more lazier, but still would want to make something handmade, then walk around in pottery town, pick some pretty looking pots and just paint. Here are some samples.


I made this to give as a b'day gift to my neighbor aunty(who feeds me whenever I'm too lazy to cook), but felt it didn't come out well. So gave her something else and kept this with me.


This peacock pot was pretty but was looking very dull when I picked it up. So gave it a metallic shade of colors.


This wheel takes more time as the work is bit intricate but works very well if your mission is to take off your mind from some nagging thoughts :) The base is plywood and work is done using ceramic and then coated with metallic paint. Most people think it's real metal and ask me where I got it :P

For me, any type of arts and crafts is a craze not to mention that it's therapeutic. I like to experiment and try out new things except that I never stick to one thing. So please tell me your ideas and hobbies so that I can explore them.. Please please :)