So, bone-dry clay especially slakes down ... into stuff that's usable to be made into new pots. The trimmings that you see coming directly off my bowls, those ones I put directly into the bucket ...

or when my clay eventually drifted off-center. “What I really love is making pots and teaching classes,” Grossman said.

I love to watch the professionals make bo jai fan (clay pot rice) – they do it with such ease, moving the pots from one blazing hot burner (charcoal, please – it tastes better) to a slightly ...