That One Time When I made a Clay Mug in Florida

For some insane reason, we made the decision to buy a house in Florida a few years ago. We reasoned that for what it would cost here in LA, we could live like kings in West Palm Beach Florida; plus we would be living closer to my little brother.

Well, that's not really what this post is about, but suffice it to say that I absolutely hated it there, and now I'm back in sunny yet not so crazy humid Southern California.

When we first got to Palm Beach, there was a delay in receiving our shipment with all of our stuff, so I went to hang out with my sis for a while who lived near Tampa at the time. She took us over to a friend's house, where I ended up doing something completely new to me.

I made this thing:

As you might have guessed if you follow me, the A is for Amanda. So this friend of my sister's has a whole pottery making area on her back patio. I had never tried before, so I thought, what the hell! I must admit, if you are high strung, this activity is quite calming.

Oh, by the way. I didn't respect the Florida sun, so this happened to my white self earlier that day:

My sissified pale skin was not happy about being baked in the sun like a lobster. But anyway, I digress. My sister's friend was nice enough to give me an apron and sit me down with a lump of clay and some basic instructions.

So that was me after about 5 attempts. I magically fast forwarded so that you wouldn't have to see those disasters. It also helps that no one took any pictures because they were making things too! (Thank God)

I worked on the clay for a while until I thought it looked like something that I could reasonably drink out of. Check me out pretending that I have some kind of a clue as to wtf I am doing.

This is what Shrek would look like making pottery

If you didn't know any better you might think I do this all the time. I mean, if you really didn't know any better. The last step in the shaping process was to sculpt some sort of a handle. For some reason this took me longer than actually forming the mug. Don't ask why, I can't answer that.

It was always either too big or too thick. Too short or too heavy. I finally managed to make something reasonable that would pass for a mug handle. I don't know why I'm questioning my own native language right now, but is that called a handle? Sounds weird to me right now. Oh well, whatever.

So this is what it looked like when it was completely finished, before firing:

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the weight of the handle is starting to make the cup droop. We messed with it a little and it actually ended up coming out alright! I'm proud of myself in the same way an F student is when he gets a C. But it's all good! I had a great time. I would recommend trying it out to anyone who could use a little stress relief. It's quite therapeutic!