weekly retro #58: logged off, touching clay
last week i had posted a couple of ai-related threads on bluesky and started to feel gross from letting the subject use up so much of my time, time i could have been making something with my hands and brain. it's the same feeling you get when you've eaten too many twizzlers and you're like "i think i do not need to eat another twizzler for a few weeks". you know that feeling, right? right?
so i made it a point to log off this week. i spent most of my time in the ceramics studio. i got to glaze a bowl i made during last semester, which i'm hoping to see in its final form tomorrow. i'm not sure what i'm going to do with the bowl yet, probably fill it with wax and give to a friend.
i did that with one of my first pinch pots this week. my pal mike brought me back some hinoki essential oil from his trip to japan, so i made myself a candle and some tealights from it. i sent him one of the tealights and an unscented candle in the pinch pot goblet thing i made a few months ago.
the more that i practice at the wheel, i find myself more inspired at home to sketch future candle vessels. i know, practice makes perfect and it builds muscle for inspiration. it's not uncommon to forget or begrudge this. on the topic of reminders, this week marked 10 years of getting hotter and smarter.
between each throwing session this week was a session of immense menstrual cramps, inflamed sinuses from an allergic reaction, and my quarterly visit to the endocrinologist. not only was "log off" my intention for the week, but so was "power through." this time, though, i was powering through for myself and no one else.
as i get more confident on the wheel, i discover new shapes my hands can make, like these beautiful potion bottles that andy and i've been joking are for his gatorade (he doesn't drink gatorade lol). speaking of potions, my endocrinologist said my liver, kidney and sugar bloodwork "is beautiful".
i'm just sharing this can because "vegetarian vegetable" is an insane phrase. also insane is how instead of just starting a new painting today, i built a color distribution tool for better visualizing my references and what paint i'll need. i can spend all the time in the world touching grass (or clay) but at the end of the day i was born to be on the computer.
things i enjoyed this week
- this glass eye barter is so wholesome and lead to such incredible glass art.
- i love edibles, especially during my period, and derek from milk barn made me some tinctures in an oil i'm not allergic to which was really kind.
- we played until we got all 4 endings of berry bury berry. it is super fun, colorful and satisfying - everything i love about incremental games.
- these two are so funny together.
after i publish this, i give pumagreg his first dose of gabapentin ahead of a cardiology consult and echocardiogram first thing in the morning. i think i'm going to stay offline again this week to focus on the little guy and minimize my own stress so that my blood continues looking beautiful.
xoxo jenn