I had my first foray into pottery this evening. There's an artist-in-residence at school this week teaching the high schoolers all about ceramics.  In the evenings he offers classes to adults.  Last night we made finger bowls (sculpting the clay into a bowl with your....fingers....hence the name).  Tonight we graduated up to the wheel!  
You literally throw a round ball of clay onto the wheel, but I was too embarassed to ask if that's where the phrase, "throwing a pot" comes from.  The artist that taught us, his name is Memo, was really helpful.  I was surprised with how difficult it was and how easy it was to make a mistake.  In fact, the pot is really more Memo's than mine because he stepped in to fix all of my mistakes. 
The pot hasn't been fired yet so I don't really know what the final product will look like, but I'm really happy with how it looks now.  I just have to decide what to store in my new bowl....change?.....post-its?....bobby pins?....SALSA?....I'm leaning toward salsa.  I'll have to ask Memo if it's safe to eat out of.
 
