Welcome to the MudTalk Podcast!

The goal of this show is to share as many different opinions, perspectives and thoughts as possible. Each episode will cover a different topic related to pottery and ceramics.

If you want to share your thoughts on the MudTalk Podcast, go here and leave an audio or written message.

In this first episode, we'll hear why it is so awesome to work with clay.

Unfortunately, since this was my first ever podcast episode, the sound quality is beginner-level. Don't worry, things get better in future episodes!

Transcript:

Welcome to the MudTalk Podcast. My name is Brandon but you can call me Fuzzy if you prefer. This is the first episode. It could be one of many or the one and only. We’ll see how it goes.

Since it’s the first episode, I’m going to give a bit of an introduction. First of all, what am I doing? Basically, I’m reading through some of my favorite comments in the MudTalk Monday discussions. If you aren’t familiar with MudTalk Monday, you can follow Pottery Making Info on social media. Every Monday, or every other monday, I’ll put up a question or prompt to provide an opportunity for others to share their thoughts or stories about clay and clay-related topics. I have been delightfully surprised at the quantity and quality of the response.

Okay, so why am I doing this? For one reason, it scares me out of my socks. I hate talking in front of people. In fact, I try to avoid talking as much as possible. I’m way more comfortable writing. So I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone and grow as a person. I’m also doing it as a way to help spread the word about another project I’m working on. More on that later. And lastly, I’m just trying to do something that will make the clay community a little bit better.

So, why a podcast? I’m always looking for things to listen to while I’m working with clay. And I wish there were more pottery specific podcasts. I also discovered it’s not as hard as I thought - I was recently listening to a guy do these 5-10 minute podcasts as he was driving in his car. So I thought: I can get out this $10 mic I’ve had for at least a decade and plug it into my 7 yr old laptop and lock the kids out of my clay studio for a little while and probably end up with something that is at least as good as somebody else out there. Don’t expect anything fancy- probably not a lot of editing. No fancy intro music. Probably no guests in the near future. But one thing that I’m trying to remember and apply to my work is “done is better than perfect.” I’m just getting it out there and then I can make improvements as I go.

So, with all apologies to the names that I will now skewer, let’s get started.

The first MudTalk Monday question was pretty basic: Why clay? I try to leave these as vague and open ended as possible to encourage a variety of discussion. There were a lot of great responses and a handful of themes started to emerge. I’ve sorted the responses into 6 categories including: the tactile nature of clay,  the unpredictability and variety that clay offers, the functional and practical uses for objects made of clay, the ancient or from-the-earth practice, the feelings/ therapy/expression clay offers and last, kind of a miscellaneous category. Let’s start with responses that mention the tactile nature of clay.
Tactile/Touch/Feel
Notleann15 I like clay because it's all tactile. The making, the product... it's all about how it feels.

Claybylaura Touch. it's the tactile nature of clay that keeps me coming back for more.

Marilu.melange I love all the different textures, when the clay is smooth and muddy, when you add water, when it gets dry and hard and you are able to shine the object, this is like meditation to me and in the end strong, hard, and cool - nearly unbreakable.....

Nboldenart it's magical. i take a ball of soft malleable mush and manipulate it to realize whatever it is i've imagined. it's also fragile and ephemeral once finished. the tactile sensation is the greatest the