Just finished my 500th piece and it's a weird feeling

I hit 500 finished pieces in my logbook last night, which is way more than I ever thought I'd make when I started. It's not about the number itself, but looking back, I see how my style changed from simple cups to more complex stuff like the 12-inch vase I made last month. Some people say counting pieces is just ego, but for me it shows the time I put in. Do you guys track your work like this, or do you think it misses the point?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_anthony3d ago

Jenny's notebook idea is smart because it turns that map into something you can actually use. My own log has notes on clay types and firing temps next to the piece numbers, so now I can see that my cracking problem last year was mostly from one bad batch of material. The count itself just tells you how many trips you took, but the notes tell you what you learned on each one. That's how a number becomes more than just an ego thing.

jenny_hall3d ago

Wow, 500 is huge! I totally get that feeling of looking back and seeing your progress in actual objects (like that vase versus your early cups). I keep a simple notebook with dates and quick sketches, which helps me spot patterns in what fails and what works. The numbers aren't about bragging, they're like a map of where all the hours went.

uma_ellis3d ago

Love how @jenny_hall called it a map of hours, that's so true. My own log is full of notes about why things went wrong, which turns the count into a story of what you learned, not just what you made. Do you ever look back at your early notes and laugh at what you didn't know?