Pottery class 🏺

The potter's wheel is thought to have come into use in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. Pottery is usually fired twice: once to harden it, then again at a higher temperature after glazing. That's why a bowl made at a weekend class rarely goes home with you that day — it usually arrives a few weeks later.

Aesthetic is high and the other two axes hover near the middle. You want to make something with your own hands. Doing appeals more than watching, though it needn't be a grand adventure.

People who pick the pottery class are buying the feel of the material more than the finished piece: clay finding its shape on the wheel, a bowl that won't do what you meant. A lopsided cup gets used for years simply because you made it.

You go well with someone who laughs off clumsiness. A first bowl almost never comes out as planned, and a companion who takes that seriously will flatten the mood. In a bracket the pottery class is the dark horse among the aesthetic squares — few people have tried it, but it's easy to want to.

The nearest square is the five-day market, then the jazz bar; they share a liking for handmade things and things that only happen in the moment. The furthest is hiking. One uses the hands sitting down; the other uses the legs standing up.