Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
There’s no knowing the end result once Dr Jessie Ibrahim of Pacific Smiles Dental in Figtree, NSW, starts shaping clay on a potter’s wheel.
“When you see a professional potter throw clay onto a wheel and start creating a pot, it always looks easy. It’s not. There’s an art and a technique to it. Positioning the clay correctly is essential and there is a muscle memory your hands need to learn. Beginners tend to try to aggressively mould the clay but gentleness is required. You need to be passive and light with your touch and your emotions. Just let the clay do its own thing and gently guide it into shape.
“I joined a local pottery school in 2017. I was looking for something fun to do and a hobby I could undertake after work. From the first lesson, I loved it. I was a total novice but I was being taught wheel work, hand building and all kinds of techniques. Dentistry is a stressful job so pottery is a wonderful way to relax. The other students were professional people who were also decompressing after work. There’s something deeply grounding in just touching the clay.
“Dentistry and pottery are similar in that if you are in a bad headspace, it affects your hand skills and shows in your work. If you’re in a good headspace, relaxed and going with the flow, you produce the most beautiful work.
“Glazing is the other part of pottery. You never know how it’s going to come out of the kiln. It’s important to have an even application with no drips but it’s impossible to know how it will look until you see it. You can put the same glaze at a different spot in the kiln and get a totally different result.
“I love to pop a chunk of clay on the wheel and see what happens. Sometimes I set out to make one thing, but it morphs into something else. Professional potters need consistency of form so they can create items of similar dimensions. I don’t want to be bound by that; it almost defeats the purpose. I like going wherever the clay takes me and then gifting it to family and friends.
“These days, we all have thousands of tabs open in our minds. Pottery allows me to shut those tabs down and concentrate on one thing. When working the clay, the smallest of movements can make dramatic changes. A small pinch of the fingers can have a huge impact on the final shape.
“Pottery is a creative pursuit without bounds. You can sit at the wheel and create nothing or be as prolific as you like. What happens is usually dictated by your state of mind so it’s also an insight into how you’re feeling. It’s a very therapeutic process.”
