♪ >> When I was working in the factory, I was just a number.

I mean, all they cared about is, okay, what did I get out?

Did I get out what I was supposed to get out?

Now, I'm an individual, I'm known for being me.

I mean, people when they buy my product, when they talk to me, they want to know things about it.

They want to know how I feel about it, what made me make them things.

I mean, how did I feel making it.

Having a business like Boyd's Pottery has helped me bring out the fullness of me as an individual, where in the factory, I was just a number.

Pottery, to me, is really kind of fascinating, because first of all, I never thought I'd be playing in mud.

And it's such rewarding.

It's kind of mystifying in a way, because I'm still putting together, in my mind, the value it has.

And I know that it's a lot, because my interest and my desire.

And I really think it's helped weave together some things that I'm not even conscious of.

Being at Cornerstone, where I teach at -- and I also teach at another place called Made in Muncie downtown, and that's a -- that's a whole different kind of situation.

I call Made in Muncie an introduction, because I'm doing 90% of the work.

Your hands is on the product, but I'm guiding your hands, and I make sure you don't fail.

You don't get a chance to fail, you know?

So -- and that's a fun thing because you make something and get to come back and you glaze it and everything.

And it's a nice rewarding experience, but I wouldn't call that really teaching.

I call that an introduction, you know, to just see if you like the material growing through your hands, see if you like seeing how it -- when you pull it up, how it move.

I find most people don't understand the way clay has to be moved.

You know, I mean, it has to be moved a certain way.

I mean, you just can't do anything that you want to it, and it happens, I mean, certain ways.

And so the amount of pressure you have to put on it and don't.

So basically, we just let you mess with it.

Then when you stumble, we come and pick you up.

Let you mess with it, when you stumble, come and pick you up, yeah.

So that's kind of our approach there.

I mean, we don't just sit there and stand over you, you know, and have a timeline on anything.

And if you decide you want to change -- like say you said I want to do the wheel, but then you say the wheel is too much and you want to go hand build, that's fine.

So we don't really dog you out as far as making you learn one form over another.

I had a lady that's been with us, before COVID, and she left the class Monday, and they found her dead Tuesday morning.

But do you know what she was doing?

Ceramics.

I mean, I don't want to see her pass, but I know she was doing what she loved, and I was a part of it.

I was a part of that.

That's a good feeling, to know that I had -- I have given her something to do, that that was the last thing she had done.

Here's the steps that I learned when we're making something.

So here we go.

So here's a box of clay that we already purchased.

So you go in there, and you get you the amount of clay you want.

And most time, I weigh it out to know how much clay I'm getting.

So then you wedge it up.

And wedging up is a process that we use to make sure it's deaired and make sure the clay is loosened.

So it's almost like kneading bread, but it's the opposite.

Kneading bread, you're folding it over, you're adding air.

Wedging, you are deairing it, and you're getting the clay to move it.

So I have to do that.

And then I like to go put it on the wheel.

So then the wheel is spinning around.

You get it set on the wheel.

And the first thing you have to do is get what's called centering.

Okay?

And so we center the clay.

The next thing you know, you are opening it up, and you are pulling it up, and you are pulling it up, and you are pulling it up.

And it keeps going.

And you be like, man, that was one of my best pulls!

And then after that, then we make the shape we want, and then we have a finished product.

Now, when it's finished there, it's not finished.

It's just the first step because some things are kind of finished where they dry and they're done.

Some things you let almost dry, and then you do what we call trimming.

So like if you made a big bowl, you would trim it.

There's a lot of things you trim, some things you don't.

So then you would trim it, and then you would let it finish drying.

After it's finished drying, it has to go into the kiln the first time.

And that's the first time it goes in the kiln, it comes back like this one.

So if -- if I took this before it went in the kiln and done that, it would probably be cracked because when it dries, at the first stage, it's real, real fragile.

And then this stage, in this stage, we glaze it.

Then as -- there's several ways to apply your glaze.

You can take it with a brush, put it on the brush.

You can take it like some of us do and just dip it in a bucket of glaze, or you can add little things to it, with different colored glazes.

Then after you glaze it, it goes back in the kiln another time, and then it comes out with a finished product.

So here in Muncie Pottery, I encourage people to come out and try our ceramics class.

See if you can like being in a muddy situation.