Tuesday, January 22, 2013

La Meridiana .... A throwing Marathon




The Studio

Well that’s what the course was called. 

Amanda and I spent 5 days in Certaldo (Chianti region, Tuscany), where we did a course in throwing pots.  Actually there was quite a lot of throwing involved, mostly our disastrous attempts at making bowls and cylinders into the massive pile of clay to be recycled

Wedging ...
and kneading
























Pietro Maddelana was our maestro/comedian/potter extraordinaire for the duration, and kept us busy spinning the wheel for 7 hours a day! He made it look sooooo easy, pushing and pulling, centering the clay, then within 3 minutes, (minus the story telling, he does know how to make a short story long), he’s produced an amazing piece of pottery!!


Morning tea with the team


Maestro and the masterpiece
The scrap heap!

























OMG! You’ve no idea how hard it is to move that clay! I discovered muscles I didn’t know existed! Who would have thought you needed your hip to make a bowl? Thankfully there was our 3 course Italian feast for lunch each day to discuss our successes and failures (more the latter) and generally chit chat about clay. We were a small mixed bunch of Italians, Germans, Italian/Germans, Swiss, Americans and of course we two Australians – actually that sounds like a lot of people but there were only 8 of us!


From this …
to this!























I made this …

And this … dadah!

…. and this!


Then just when I felt I was getting into the groove; spinning, pushing, pulling, centering, (this is all before I even attempt to make anything), it was time to say goodbye and head home

Needless to say we had a great time, met some fantastic people (fellow clay enthusiasts) but sadly had nothing to show for our efforts except sore muscles and few extra kilos from all the wonderful food and wine  - Chianti of course.

Nothing to show but dirty boots!



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