Fresh Cup of Joel

2024

On September 16th I started a hobby, and fell in love with it.

This all originated from my deep obsession with, at the time, watching live streams on youtube. I stumbled upon a potter from Alabama who goes by Ugchugs, the importance of which I couldn't have known at the time. That was is June 2024. After hours of watching Ugchugs, Ben Wolff Pottery, and many other potters, reading about pottery, and talking about pottery non stop my wonderful fiancee caved.

On my birthday I was graced with a pottery wheel of my own! The journey began. After accuiring some clay and setting up my garage I geared up for my first pottery livestream, like those who inspired me, on youtube. Be warned, it is an hour of awkward interaction from a complete beginner trying to figure out how to get clay to stick to the wheel. It only took another five one-hour streams and some help from some freindly potters who tuned in, to finally begin making cylinders. This is when things got real.

In November, after streaming and practicing 5 or 6 days a week, I was overwhelmed with greenware pieces just begging to be fired. So naturally I took the next step. Again, my wonderful fiancee came though. After scouring online market places we stumbled on a promising, modestly priced ad for an L&L sitter kiln. After picking up the kiln, the research began. This is when I relised I could not run my kiln without outfitting the garage with the proper circitry. For now, the kiln sat unutilized.

As the month progressed and the tempuratures dropped to the point that I was struggling to continue throwing in my unisulated, dirt floored garage. While livestreaming for the past few month I had began forming a freindship with, a now close friend, Ben Wolff Pottery. Let me tell you, without this man I would not be where I am today. His generosity, whether with adivice, support, or his time, was pivotal. On one livestream I had mentioned that I would have to stop throwing for the winter. He reached out after and was understanding but upset as he was quite invested in my pottery journey. Later in the week he called me up and told me that he, after consulting his wife, had decided to buy me an electric wheel that I could bring in the house and continue my practicing and livestreaming. I was completly overwhelmed and grateful for this wonderful gesture.