When I do shows I often get asked or told my work must be pottery. And I have to explain that no, it’s polymer or plastic clay. Once it cures it’s plastic. Lightweight, brightly coloured awesomeness. When I attempted to jury in for the craft council, I was juried partially by potters. Finally, I decided I had to give the pottery a try and I enrolled in a wheel throwing class at the local art gallery.
I also dragged my kiddo along. Together we made our fair share of little crooked dishes, bowls and pots. The edges are thick, the bottoms are a mess and so solid they could double as weapons. I love them to bits.
Ornamentation is completely different with this stuff. The process is not nearly as instant gratification as polymer clay is. We worked with medium fire clays and a limited palette of glazes. Embellishments were simple.
I can now honestly say that this stuff, at least the way we did it, is precious little like polymer. I bought a few more boxes of clay to play with and I will hopefully crank out a few other pieces this summer as I go along with my first love. I hope to use a few of the tools I have from my polymer addiction to good effect with the clay. Pottery was so much fun just because it’s so different. If you get the chance I’d recommend giving it a shot.