A date around the potter's wheel

Photo by my husband, Eldar

In the beginning of March my husband and I had a chance to attend a wheel throwing workshop in a cozy Alike studio in the Stara Praga neighbourhood of Warsaw. We rarely visit the right bank of the Vistula River, and Praga is a notorious district, but the neighbourhood was very warm and welcoming that day. The weather was nice and we went to the Toast restaurant nearby to have our first coffee of the day.

Enjoying iced latte
Eldar's order: signature Toast 2.0

When booking the workshop, I mentioned that we need an English-speaking instructor, but upon our arrival there was a minor mix-up, which was fixed within minutes and our instructor Piotr welcomed us.

Figures in the entrance hall of Alike studio

Both my husband and I had never worked with clay before, and Piotr suggested we start our acquaintance from mugs without handles. Piotr has impeccable English accent and a sense of humour, commenting how terribly our clay forms turned out with the deadpan delivery. He also mentioned that it takes to throw a thousand mugs before you finally master its shape and until everyone in your circle is fed up with getting a mug as a present for any occasion, then you move on to bowls, vases and so on.

We were working downstairs, and other studio members were working near us on perfecting their pots on a wheel, or gleefully showing off their bisque fired products.

Eldar removing his mug from the wheel using a thread

At one point the owner of the studio Alicja came down to us, asked how our workshop is going, effortlessly helped us fix our mess, and gently said "you know, sometime ago I was at your place too".

Signing and stamping ready mugs

After the two-hour workshop my husband joked that he hoped it would be more romantic, he probably imagined a scene from "Ghost", and we were so exhausted! I found working on a potter's wheel a very meditative and calming activity, whilst some people may find this frustrating when the clay is not being tractable.

Proud and tired with our mugs ready to be fired

Clay is a flexible and gentle material that hardens under the heat. It is a great activity to teach balance: apply too much force and you break your vessel, be too soft and you'll never reach the desired shape. It all also made me wonder how applying balance and overcoming challenges in life shapes us and our children too. There was much more to learn from this experience apart from making the mugs.

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