Good plan?

Continuing one-day-a-week-potter’s life. 

Even that precious one day is not actually that long. Say you go in to the studio as soon as you are back from dropping my daughter off to the nursery and even leaving any house chores behind, it will soon the time for picking her up before you know it. I also usually prepare for tea as much as I can before the nursery run, as it seems to be working better with her because, one: I don’t need to wrestle with hot pans and a crying child on my knees at the same time, and two: mummy and daughter’s catching up time are suddenly available! (it’s a win win!) So considering the tea prep time as well, my studio time is VERY (please emphasise here!) limited. 

To make the best of time available, it requires really good planning. So how do I do it? Well, my current tactic is 

“not to plan too much”. 

I used to plan a lot in a day, trying to make the most of my studio day. This was actually much worse than not planning at all. Most of the time, I wasn’t able to complete it or ended up rushing. As a result, the quality wasn’t good, mistakes happened, breakage occurred, chaos in the studio and untidied tools left behind (which means I have to start with cleaning tasks when I next work, you know that dreadful feeling!). I became moody and most importantly my self esteem went down.

Due to the nature of materials, timing is crucial. Lots of extra care required too. Wrapping clay work here and there, checking every evening (as I cannot do this during the day because I’m working elsewhere) and sometimes night shift & weekend work comes in, which isn’t really ideal. All of this means very slow progress. 

Nevertheless, I think so far slow progress has been worth while after seeing some productions on my new “mazekoze”. Those layered bowls are much wider and shallower than before. I made them with a much bigger gap in between so that it gives a clear difference across the three sizes and hopefully gives each individual piece its own use, in a better way. 

I have also omitted the scraffitto surface design that I used to apply on plates and jugs. (photo below) Instead, I focused on its shape and glaze colour. Simpler version were quite well received in my Instagram, so I am pleased. 

I am currently working toward the forthcoming show in August and September. It seems to be a long away but it isn’t for a part-timer, so I must plan “reasonably” well and work hard! If you are a creative part-timer / mummy, and have got a tip that you are happy to share, I’m all ears! m x