I felt like giving up on my clay-making experience today. Cactus Ring Trinket Tray Project #2

I am not going to do it though.

I am NOT going to give up. I am still a beginner, mistakes will happen, and God forbid another piece that I am pleased with breaks on its journey to completion.

I worked on two ring trays via my dad’s recommendation. One is much smaller than the other. The first one I made was super large so that I could try to get an idea what I wanted it to look like. The second smaller ring tray was a smaller duplicate, and one I was quite proud of. Unfortunately today, in the process of glazing the second smaller ring tray – the arms broke off of the cactus.

To say I felt sad is an understatement. I felt a rolling wave of disappointment so great I thought it would knock me to the ground in angst. Fortunately, I know that mistakes are going to happen. I just wasn’t really expecting them to happen to ME. I am not sure why, I know they happen to everyone, but I thought I did everything right, and yet…my piece still broke in two places.

In fact, after the two arms of the cactus broke off, it just looked like a giant middle finger giving me the bird. Saying, I dare you to keep going! I’ll show you, the clay said, I am going to break no matter what you do!

Alas, even though I just wrote about how much I like Old Potters Premium Air Dry Clay, when this batch goes, I am going to probably try DAS air dry clay, or even Crayola’s Air Dry Clay. I have read good things about both, and want to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe it will be a better material for my purposes. All air dry clay, it seems, is not created equally.

I am not blaming the clay for my ‘breakage.’, The fault definitely lies with me. I am fairly certain I miss-handled it a bit. This decision was made independently of the unfortunate incident with my ring trinket tray. But it is a learning experience for sure, and the more I read on the subject, the more concerned I am that the clay I chose to start my projects with, just might not be the best for my needs.

I like to think that trying different clays is just a part of the process in the end.

Learning something new is bound to give me some trouble.