"That's Really Nice!"

"Looks good!"

"Very cool!"

Comments like these at the pottery studio tell me that I've progressed.

NOW, instead of turning bungled attempts into ashtrays, they can become

CANDLE HOLDERS!

At pottery class today we were working on "tooling", which just means using the "tools" to clean up the stuff we've made on the wheel.

I was happily "tooling" away, when I noticed a little notch in the side of my pot... MISTAKE ALERT!

When I realized that it wasn't just soft clay, but a growing hole, I took the thing off the wheel, (where I was "tooling" it- that almost sounds naughty...) removed it to the table and contemplated the thin spot/ hole.

What to do.

I concluded that the only thing for it was to make that little ol' hole look deliberate.

So I gave it a sort of leaf or flame shape, made three more and called it a candle holder.

Hey, my class was convinced!

(and it's not an ashtray...)