Introduction: Setting the Context
The throwing challenges took an unplanned pause over the past few weeks. Surgery for appendicitis forced a temporary stop, away from the wheel, the clay, and the usual rhythm of creating.
This break interrupted the gesture, slowed the body down, and shifted my attention elsewhere for a while. It did, however, remind me of something essential: throwing isn’t just a matter of hands. The whole body takes part. The back, the shoulders, the legs, the breath, the posture, the concentration. You don’t always realize how hard the body is working until the moment it demands a rest.
Creating in a Different Way
During this time, the process didn’t come to a complete stop.
I read about different techniques, looked at my pieces with a bit more distance, sketched out vase ideas, and let certain forms keep evolving on paper instead of in porcelain.
It wasn’t a time of production, but it wasn’t empty either. It was a slower, more inward moment, where ideas could settle in a different way.
Coming Back Gradually
I’m getting ready to pick the challenges back up carefully, accepting that the return will happen gradually. The body sometimes sets its own pace, and you have to work with it rather than force the gesture.
So this pause will have been an interlude, but also a reminder: in working with clay, form is born from the dialogue between the material, the intention… and the body that carries it.
The challenges will resume soon, with the same desire to explore forms, but perhaps with a slightly sharper awareness of the gesture that makes them possible.
