Sorbet bowls stacked
Teabowls, canisters, and mixing bowlsOr should I say slow at learning? Or learning to be slow?
This has been a very intense week for me. Between preparing for surgery, finishing orders and trying to get projects finished in the house... I have been going non-stop. While working on installing two new ceiling fans I realized I had to stop. Not because I wanted to, or because I was done... but rather because I had hit a wall and had no idea how to finish the project. Wiring has never been easy for me, but I enjoy the problem solving aspect. This was a toughie though. Lots of odd permutations of three-way switches and too many wires for the boxes. So I sat down and stared at it. For hours. I stopped working at 10pm, after nearly 4 hours of sweating and trying to bludgeon my way through. Two hours later I woke up and called my construction-guru Lee. After ten minutes I had a completely new approach. Solved the problem. Next morning Nancy and I finished off the fans, wrapped it all up, and sure enough, it worked PERFECTLY.
What did I learn? Slow is a good thing. Go slow. Learn from the slowness.
I had planned on getting a glaze firing through on Friday. Didn't happen. Three orders are waiting to ship... waiting on pots from this firing. Instead of rushing things, I waited till Sunday to fire. I had more energy, more time to glaze pots, more time to ensure I wasn't missing something. This morning I got to unload the kiln at 7am. What a gorgeous firing! Everything I needed for the orders turned out great. Such a relief.
I have been needing to take pictures of things in progress in the studio for weeks. Now that Dana and Justin are gone I find it a lot harder to get the camera out. We share a love for taking pictures... and without their feedback, I find it much harder to take the time to play. (play meaning take pictures, experiment, try new stuff)
To that end, I played today. I took my new light diffuser, set it on the stand and rigged it so that I could filter some of the light in the kiln room. Made the images very different. I think, as I slow down, I am starting to see the light differently. Our eyes crave contrast. Not sure why. Probably has to do with pattern recognition. But our camera sees so much less range tone-wise. By filtering some of the light, the camera can see closer to what my eyes perceive. At least, I think that's what is happening!
So what's next with this slow learning? Well, being down for 4-10 weeks post surgery is going to mean NOT making pots for a while. What else can I do during that time? That leads to a lot of questions and opportunities. I dont normally have down-time. Perhaps this will allow me to pursue some of the writing I have wanted to do. Maybe I'll get more reading done? Maybe I will catch up on all the bookkeeping I have been procrastinating on. Perhaps I will be able to add more images to our WholesaleCrafts.com site. Heck, for that matter, maybe I will finally be able to organize all of my images. I need some way of figuring out where all my images live. Ideas?
