Why I Love Making Pottery

Hey everyone! Today, I’d like to share my love of pottery with you. I’ve been taking ceramics classes at the local art center for about a year and a half. It is so much fun to make things with my hands. Pottery is a great hobby for retirees. My class is full of older folks. A ceramic studio is a fun and friendly space for anyone.  

Personal growth

Early retirement can be tricky. Most workers dream of retiring to a life of leisure, but that’s not the right goal. It might be fun to play video games and watch TV all day for a few months. However, it’ll get boring after a while. You need to have a goal to keep life interesting.

When I retired from my engineering career, I became a stay-at-home dad/blogger. Being a dad to a toddler was challenging, and it kept me busy for many years. Blogging filled up the rest of my time. Now, my son is a teenager, and he doesn’t need as much attention. I still spend a lot of time driving him around to his activities, but he doesn’t need supervision like he used to. He prefers to spend time with his friends rather than with me. That’s understandable. Unfortunately, blogging is on the way out too. I’m ramping down on that front as well.

As a result, I have more personal time recently. This is a big reason why I started taking ceramics classes.  I have time, I like ceramics, and I wanted to see if what I can make. Pottery turned out to be a very enjoyable pursuit. It feels great hand craft some ceramics. I made a bunch of stuff, and I’m improving every day. It’s so satisfying to get better at something. That’s the key to a happy retirement. You need personal growth.

I think that’s why some workers become unhappy after they retire. People think they’ll enjoy the leisure life, but it can get really boring. Stagnation is just a step away from decline. All that can wait until I’m 75. You need to find something fun to do and grow.

Stuff I made

Alright, let’s get on to the RB40 mini art show. Here are some of the things I’ve made since last year.

My first 4 pieces! The purple spoon rest is still used almost every day. The red sauce bowl is for Mrs. RB40 to rest her tea bag. The copper bowl is my key bowl. The rustic yellow cup is somewhere outside.

I achieved peak Portlandia last year. I foraged these ginkgo nuts from a street tree and served them on a ginkgo leaf plate I made. The ginkgo fruits are super stinky, but the nuts are tasty and they are healthy for you. I gotta go forage for more this year.

Sugared ginkgo nuts.

Chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce, sticky rice, and pickled red onion. Yum!

Mrs. RB40 got a restaurant-sized bottle of soy sauce from the local Buy Nothing group. It took up a ton of room on the counter. So I made a little soy sauce jar to save space. This is why I love pottery. You can make something you need instead of going out to buy it.

A California roll plate. RB40Jr’s favorite.

Last night, I made Thai chicken curry and served it in my biggest bowl. It was delicious.

Fermentation

I also got into fermentation. IMO, it’s an adjacent hobby to ceramics. Hahaha… I made a big kimchi fermentation jar last year and enjoyed several batches of kimchi already. Here is my latest fermentation crock in action. The water seal is too shallow, but it seems to work out fine this time.

Banana for reference.

I fermented these Serrano peppers and a few cloves of garlic for 6 weeks. It was a bit iffy at first because I didn’t keep them submerged. After a couple of days, I realized I could use a small bowl to push them down under the brine. This fermentation worked out quite well.

Spicy!

I blended the peppers and garlic and added some vinegar. The hot sauce is awesome. I didn’t strain it, though. It’s good as is.

A friend from ceramics class gave me a SCOBY starter to brew kombucha. Here is my first batch. It just finished the first stage of fermentation. I poured the kombucha into a juice bottle and added a few raspberries from our backyard for the second stage of fermentation. If I’m lucky, it’ll add a little fizz and the bottle won’t explode. I know this isn’t the right bottle. I need to buy a few swing-top glass bottles soon. I added more tea to the ceramic jar to start another batch.

Pottery isn’t a cheap hobby

I hope you enjoyed my mini art show. The only downside to pottery is that it is an expensive hobby. My class has been getting more expensive. This quarter, it cost $400 for 10 classes. Most students would be lucky to get 10 pieces back at the end of class. Open studio costs $10/session, and a bag of clay costs around $20. Fortunately, I can afford this hobby. The pottery community is also very friendly. It’s been great.

Are you retired? Do you have a fun hobby or something to encourage personal growth? I’m going to brew a batch of ginger beer next. 😉

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Joe started Retire by 40 in 2010 to figure out how to retire early. After 16 years of investing and saving, he achieved financial independence and retired at 38.

Joe recommends Empower for DIY investors. They have many useful tools that will help you reach financial independence.