I Made a Plate!

For the past three years, I spent Chuseok (Harvest Moon Festival) rolling around in my bed watching Netflix. I couldn't justify paying triple the price to travel and was okay with being a hermit for the holiday. Chuseok had always been a time to catch up on sleep and binge watch XYZ.......There's nothing wrong with being a homebody and relaxing. But, this time around, I wanted to do something different and meaningful.

I finally decided to dip my toes into Airbnb Experiences Seoul! I usually sign up for things the "Korean" way through Naver blogs, but it was so much easier finding a time and date through Airbnb. After scrolling through the options, I signed up for a 2pm pottery class with my friend Magan - we bond on our shared appreciation of art and (good) coffee. 😉

Magan and I arrived a little early at Dasong Studios in Mapo-gu. It was easy to find and I loved the simplicity of the building. Our host for the day, Dahye, greeted us with a bright smile and let us wait inside while she prepared for our class. Meanwhile, we got carried away taking pictures in our cute aprons!

Dahye walked us through each step by doing a demo. First, we rolled the clay and cut it to make the shape of a dinner plate. Then, we carved colored clay (made by Dasong) to decorate! My original idea for the plate was to make shapes that mimiced stones, but that turned into random fruits and veggies........*cue* I don't know what I'm doing but it's all good.

Dahye told us that a lot of people come in with a perfectionist mindset and end up never being satisfied with what they're making. As someone who has perfectionist tendencies, I started to loosen up and be okay with making mistakes. I think the key to art or any type of craft is to let go of perfectionism and enjoy the process. At least, that's what I tried to do.

 

We had a lot of fun sharing our experiences in Korea and tastes in music. Dahye was warm and patient as we talked and got lost in rolling, cutting and carving. Midway through our session, it started to rain. The pitter patter outside seemed to make us feel more moody and creative - in a good way. It was the perfect atmosphere for a pottery class.

After we finished making our plates, we also made two moon-shaped chopstick holders! I had no idea this was part of the class even though it was on the website 😶. So I was happily surprised when she gave us another slab of clay! I decorated the chopstick holders with small flowers and then we let them dry. I didn't take a picture of the finished chopstick holders, but here's my pre-baked plate!

My favorite part of the class was stamping the back of our ceramics with our names and the dates.You could choose Korean or English letters, numbers and other symbols like hearts and dots. It was a neat personal touch and made me feel proud of my work (making fruits and veggies).

Lastly, Dahye asked us what kind of glaze we wanted - glossy or matte. I chose glossy 😏. She took down our contact information and said it would take around 2 weeks to receive our baked and glazed babies. This means that I should be receiving a special package very soon! But, until then....

I MADE A PLATE!