A journal of things made slowly. ISSUE 09 / HANDS AT WORK
The cover story / Object 031
At the wheel with a potter who measures a vessel by how it feels when it is full.
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Essay / Mara Vale
The pot sat on the bench for a week without handles. Every morning its maker lifted it, turned it half a turn, and set it back on the same damp circle. The first handles looked right from across the room. They pinched as soon as the pot was full.
The second pair were pulled a little longer. A thumb now slips through the gap while two fingers take the weight below. The clay keeps the small ridge where the handle was pressed back into the body.
From the maker’s notebook
A coarse red stoneware with a small handful of grog. The grit lets the tall wall hold itself before it reaches leather-hard.
A thin iron slip darkens the handles. A single patch beneath the foot is left bare as a record of the clay before firing.
The lid stayed shut through the first night of cooling. The slow drop left a soft, satin sheen across the shoulders.