She nagged at me for a while to try something, but I was very self-conscious now that I had seen what she could do with ease. Eventually I relented by starting with a smaller lump of clay, thinking I would be lucky if I could even manage to create a lopsided ashtray. I started the wheel, trying to make the clay into a circle the way I had seen her do, but I pushed too hard and the clump flew off the wheel and hit the floor. "Shit!" I exclaimed, face turning bright red.

"Now, now," Tamara said maternally, pulling some more clay out of her bucket. She formed it...