Making Mistakes

I was putting on the last few handles for some mugs last night and discovered that things were not going well and that maybe I should go to bed rather than mess up a whole batch. I have messed up a whole batch in the past, and it made things both interesting and a little more work to get pots through the next process. Making a mistake many times is not as big a problem as long as the next decision you make is to correct it. We all make mistakes every day, and we get to choose the next action. We can make a correction or tell ourselves it’s not so bad and keep going. If we keep going without a correction, the problem is now larger as things snowball.

When making a mistake in creating things, much of the time it might be up to us on when and how to fix it. When making pots, I have created my own set of standards and quality guidelines on what a good pot might be. I have no idea actually what a good pot might be but know only a little about what it is not. As we learn and move forward in our experience with creating, we gain knowledge in our techniques and processes, so our views on quality change. It is then that we discover maybe that we might be making a mistake. If we stop and work out the problem, then the next pot should be better. Keep in mind that we are only trying to make the good better and not perfect. At times, simply scrapping the pot and making a new one just might be the thing to do.

While making work for practice, working out problems, and fixing mistakes, do not be too hard on yourself, as new discoveries can come about. If we make mistakes in a safe and controlled way, we can learn what not to do and also learn new techniques. This might be called error embracing. If the mistake looks interesting, intentionally repeating the mistake to create a pattern on a few more pieces, the “mistake” just might be part of your design process. Chattering on pots was a design done intentionally that may have originated from trying to time a pot with dull tools, or the piece was too dry. But artists now use chattering as a design texture element. However, do not repeat making your handles too thick, or they may pull the wall of your pot when drying and crack.

After discovering my mistake, I took a break, then went back and discarded all the pots where I made the bottoms way too thin. Then I went back and made pots with bottoms that made more sense to me. I found that while throwing, I was distracted and made the mistake of going too far to the bottom while throwing. It did not take long to correct the mistake, and I saved myself a few dollars by not firing pots with structural mistakes. The mistake pots would have had s cracks in their little mug bottoms for sure. I am very happy I realized my bottoms were thin, only six mugs in, rather than at sixteen or twenty.

If I were living yesterday a second time: I would have taken a break and gotten a coffee before throwing a few more pots.

Things I am grateful for: Noting my mistake and making the correction. It was a little work rather than a lot...that time.

If I get to live to be 86, I might only have: 12600 days left.

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