The most I like making lidded jars. I just like fitting the lids so they will sit tight and sometimes I have managed to build almost airtight lids. So the pots with lids have stayed as the ones I’m always making when I sit behind the potter’s wheel. I read with a smile the posts where someone says „I hate the lids; they are so complicated! “. They are just so satisfying to make.

I often start working with a simple form. Small ball of clay and I throw it into a mug or some cylinder shape. It helps to recall all the work techniques from the cognitive memory and transfer them back to the muscle memory of my hand. It also helps to feel the behavior of the clay and its limits. After that I take more demanding forms.

Sometimes, instead of a jar I throw a vase as a warmup, and sometimes I make vases also deliberately, throw they are not my everyday forms to make. The Pictures show some of the last vases I have made from the black Spanish clay.