At what point in any given situation do you decide it's time to give up and start over because what you're doing isn't working? Sometimes these crossroads are important - a job, a relationship - sometimes they're not very important, like this pot. This was supposed to be a pitcher but the top got too thin and off balance while I was throwing it. But I am still reluctant to throw any of my pieces away (I'm sure I will get to that place at some point) so I try to "save" them somehow. This one I pinched in the top and decided to keep it for glaze testing. Out of the 27 pieces I made this semester there were at least 5 pieces that I had to push. On of them actually didn't make it - one of my bottles didn't even make it to bisque fire because the lip broke. I think it might have had help breaking though (it happens).
I have learned a lot about me in these two semesters of ceramics - I do much better making 3 dimensional things than other forms of art and I will go a REALLY long way to try to make something work before I finally have to say "enough is enough" and stop what I'm doing and go on to something else. Maybe too long sometimes. Maybe I put up with "things not working" too long when I should stop sooner and move on. Things work (or not work) the way they do for a reason and I guess continuing or stopping is always a balancing act .
