A mammoth undertaking

This is an odd one……. I was contacted recently on behalf of a television company looking for people to take part in a new TV series!

There’s a fair bit of interest in the media at the moment about returning to “traditional skills”, possibly as a reaction to Austerity Britain and the Credit Crunch. There’s loads of TV programmes about cooking, including baking, and there was one on recently about sewing. It seems that a TV production company wants to get in on the act, putting their own twist on it. They are looking for “enthusiastic amateurs” involved in traditional crafts, including working with wood, metal, stone, textiles, glass and clay. They want people who have a secret hankering to make a career out of their hobby, and will give them master classes and tutoring from established experts in their field, plus presumably some mentoring in coming up with a business plan to make a living from the craft. I suppose the element of tension for the viewing public is whether the participants manage to change their lives by succeeding in getting a new craft-based business off the ground, or whether they crash and burn.

I found out about it via Eastnor Pottery – it seems that a number of established craft-based businesses have been approached, and asked if they know of any hobbyists who might be interested. Jon the Potter thought of me – he reckons that my skill levels are high enough that I could make a go of it. That’s very flattering of him, but I’m personally not so convinced. I know what I’m doing and I’m technically competent at throwing, but my skill levels have reached a plateau and I think it would take several hundred hours of diligent practice to reach the next level. I suppose that would be on offer if I seriously went after the opportunity, but I really don’t want to put all that effort in.

I enjoy my pottery as a hobby, but I’ve absolutely no wish (not even a secret, unacknowledged one!) to have a career change and make a living from it. I’ve seen how hard Jon and Sarah have worked to build up Eastnor Pottery over the last decade or more, and I am under no illusions as to how challenging it is. So, although I fit the “enthusiastic amateur” part of the brief, I wouldn’t want to commit to trying to turn my hobby into a career. I’m better off earning my living as an engineer, and playing with clay at the weekends! I enjoy taking the occasional commission from friends and family, and seeing what I can do with it when I’m in the right mood, but I wouldn’t want to be obliged to make things to order. Plus I have an absolute horror of participating in any type of “Reality TV”!

It was nice to be asked, but I replied effectively “Thanks, but No thanks”. I shall keep an eye out for the resulting TV series though, as it should be very interesting.