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Translator: Silavin
Su Bai raised his hand to signal the fox eared girl to stop, and he took advantage of the rotating stone slab’s inertia to do the finishing touches. He moistened the exterior of the long, oval jar slightly with water, then shaped it to be even smoother.
As the stone slab slowly came to a stop, Su Bai’s first ceramic piece was complete. He took a smooth piece of Beast Bone and scraped away the connection between the bottom of the jar and the stone slab.
“So this is how ceramics are made. Do you understand everything so far?” Su Bai asked in a solemn tone.
Ru was very eager to try at this moment. However, after hesitating for a moment, he respectfully asked, “Shaman, could you demonstrate it one more time for me to see?”
He still was not confident enough and wanted to learn one more time. It was mainly to study the Shaman’s hand techniques.
At this moment, he had no clue, primarily because he did not know how to shape the yellow clay with his hands. He only knew that in the blink of an eye, that lump of yellow clay had changed shape again, which was difficult to grasp.
“Is it the technique for making this jar that you don’t understand, or is it how I move my hands to shape it?” Su Bai directly asked.
Teaching needed to be targeted. It was vital to know what the other person truly did not. Otherwise, if he were to keep demonstrating, the student would still not understand what they do not know. To truly allow someone to learn, one needs to know what they do not understand.
Not knowing how to mould a jar was one thing, not mastering the hand techniques was another. These were two different things.
If it was about not knowing how to shape the jar, one could learn to make different shapes of ceramics by trying. However, if it was about not knowing the hand techniques, the teaching needed to showcase their movements to be much slower, allowing the other party to clearly see how the hands moved.
“I’m a bit unsure about both, but I’ve grasped the general idea.” Ru immediately said. He felt a bit embarrassed about his earlier boast, wishing he had not said that he learned things quickly. He had not expected ceramics to be this difficult.
“No problem. I’ll demonstrate once more for you to see. Afterwards, you’ll have to practice yourself,” Su Bai said.
Su Bai reached out and dug another lump of yellow clay, continuing, “Only when you actually do it yourself will you know exactly what you don’t understand. Otherwise, you might think you’ve learned it just by watching, but your hands do not know how to do it.”
Back on Earth, there were many such people. For example, in gaming, they would watch others perform a series of operations like a fierce Tiger. However, when they tried it themselves, they would end up with a score of 0-5.
“Yes!” Ru said without hesitation.
“This time, I’ll make a different shape. This one is simpler, so watch carefully.” Su Bai said.
As the fox eared girl continued to rotate the stone slab, he placed the yellow clay on it and moistened his hands with water to continue working.
This time, he was shaping a bowl instead of a jar. Compared to the jar with its narrow top, wide middle, and narrow bottom, the bowl could be said to be much simpler. Almost all beginners could make a rough bowl after learning a bit, even if they were talented, making ceramics was not exactly a simple task.
Ru moved to a more open space on the other side and squatted down to observe, nodding repeatedly. “Shaman, you can start now.”
Su Bai continued to shape the second lump of clay using the same technique as when he made the first jar.
His hands continuously cradled the lump of clay, instructing, “The first few steps are the same as before, the difference comes later.”
“Yes,” Ru nodded vigorously.
Su Bai shaped the lump of clay into a small bowl shape, then reached inside to shape the internal structure.
After shaping the bowl’s exterior to be about right, he advised, “The bowl is pretty much like this. You don’t need to pull it up like what we did with the jar earlier. At this step, you can refine the shape.”
Su Bai, fearing that the other person might not understand or see clearly, was already speaking and shaping as slowly as possible, ensuring that the other party could follow step by step.
“I’ve remembered it.” Ru confidently declared, feeling a bit relieved that there was not another step. He had thought that there might be another transformation or something, which might have been a bit too confusing for him.
“That’s good. Watch this step carefully. I’m now going to apply the finishing touch.” Su Bai instructed.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Ru repeatedly nodded.
Su Bai continued to refine the ‘embryonic bowl’, gradually shaping it into the form of bowls from Earth.
He gently placed his index finger on the rim of the bowl, beginning to refine the edge area, ensuring it was not uneven.
“Alright. This is a bowl. It is something we use for eating. Do you remember all the steps so far?” Su Bai withdrew his hands.
“I’ve remembered it, Shaman. Let me try this time.” Ru stood up excitedly.
Su Bai washed his hands and instructed, “En, remember to use plenty of water. Otherwise, the surface won’t smooth come out.”
“Okay.” Ru eagerly sat on the stool, and following the example, moistened his hands with water and dug out a lump of yellow clay.
“Qing Mu, help turn the wooden board, but not too forcefully.” Su Bai instructed.
Qing Mu nodded and took the place of the fox eared girl, also following her example and starting to turn the board.
As the stone slab began to rotate quickly, Ru cradled the lump of clay with both hands, just as Su Bai had demonstrated.
A few minutes later, the lump of clay was shaped by Ru’s hands into a bowl shape. Of course, it was not in the standard bowl shape. It looked a bit deformed, crooked and twisted, not looking like a bowl at all, more like an abstract art piece.
Ru looked up embarrassedly and asked. “Shaman, what should I do now? How can I fix this?”
Su Bai had anticipated this scene. Everyone who does this for the first time would typically end up like this.
There were two reasons. First, they do not understand how to shape it, so they were clueless when they started.
Second, they lack the feel for it. They shape with their hands for a long time without knowing what the next step should be. So, they end up just doing whatever, resulting in a crooked and twisted shape.
“Don’t be nervous. It’s normal for this to happen on your first try. You’re just too nervous.” Su Bai noticed the other’s tension.
Ru immediately stood up and earnestly requested, “Shaman, is this lump of clay useless now? What should I do?”
“It’s still useful. With a bit of changes, it can still become a beautiful piece,” Su Bai said, raising an eyebrow.
“Then… then can Shaman help me?” Ru said frantically, no longer showing the confident appearance from before. Now he looked more like a child who had made a mistake.
“Watch carefully. This situation is still salvageable.” Su Bai sat down and began to remedy the situation. He moistened his hands with water, straightened up the crooked and twisted yellow clay, slowly bringing it back on track.
“Shaman, that’s amazing,” Ru exclaimed, red eyes wide open.
It turned out that the lump of clay that seemed useless a moment ago suddenly came back to life. This feeling was truly magical.
“You need to be patient. No shape is truly useless. Everything can be fixed by your hands at this stage.” Su Bai instructed.
“Shaman, I understand now,” Ru became confident again this time.
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