Is turning more fun than hand-building and sculpting with clay?

Pottery feels a bit like the sports car of the pottery world. It's fast, dramatic, and can look super cool when several kilos of clay are transformed into a three-tiered vase with everything added. Sculpting, rolling, and thumbing clay requires neither a motor nor speed and can be likened to a walk in the woods rather than a Ferrari. But does speed really automatically equal more fun?

When you, as a beginner, sit down at a turntable for the first time, you may have grand expectations about how magical it will be. But suddenly you have mud up to your armpits, aching muscles in your stomach and what was supposed to be a big salad bowl became... a A charming little salt dish instead.

I really love spinning but oh how frustrating it was at first. It took time, practice and a lot of mud chaos before I recognized myself in that feeling that is so often shown on social media: That it is meditative and cozy.

I felt that feeling right away when I created my first curled mug, on my first ceramics course. The clay and I could go at my (inexperienced) pace, but with each layer of curled clay sausage I felt a little more confident in how to handle it. While I heard my mother and sister making different sounds of sometimes confusion, sometimes centering happiness at the turntables at the other end of the room, I was deeply immersed in the comfort of methodically smoothing the walls of the mug to perfection.

Now, four years later, I regularly try to treat myself to hand-building projects. Because the thing that limits you the most at the wheel, no matter how skilled you are, is that everything you do there turns out round! At the table, you can create ceramics in all imaginable shapes. Square dishes, abstract sculptures, flower-shaped candlesticks or a scale replica of your house.

With a little patience and precision, even if you are a total beginner, you can create something really nice and impressive the first time and I think that is very magical and in many ways more fun than turning a sports car. That said, I of course recommend everyone to try both turning and sculpting. As bad as I was at turning, I really just wanted to get better and I am so glad that I didn't give up on clay in general just because it was difficult.

- Marielle