This afternoon I found myself sitting in the office in the last few minutes of the workday, cutting my fingernails with paper shears. Tonight marked my return to pottery class and I forgot to take care of the nails!

I have been away from the studio for 4 months and was a bit apprehensive about my return. From the moment I walked into Campbells Ceramics, I knew I had found a great place to learn. Only 3 students, including me, signed up for the class. Katherine (with fabulous green stripes in her hair), had never worked in clay before. Michele, experienced in hand building, signed up to learn throwing techniques. Perfect! Our young, talented instructor, Shadow May (hometown, Homer, AK) had infinite amounts of patience and we all made great progress.

Working on the wheel, I was able to pull together one of the techniques I struggled with during my first series of class...centering the clay. I decided to ignore my desire to make things I can take home and concentrate on mastering the art of "pulling" the walls. I feel a nice sense of freedom with this goal, testing the limits of the clay and learning what works for me. No pressure to create a masterpiece (or a mini piece:-) Unfortunately, I will miss the next few classes but look forward to getting my hands in clay on my return from Canada.