Post #892539

2025-11-25 03:54 UTC

I went to pottery class today and opened by asking several of my classmates if they knew how to use the slab roller upstairs. Nobody did but everyone wanted to, so when the teacher got in I’m like “hey teach, do you know how to use the slab roller upstairs” and she’s like “no” (she’s a visiting artist who only got here a couple months ago so this is not very surprising) “but I’ve used a lot of different ones and I bet we can figure it out.” Me: “do you want to go on a Journey of Discovery?” Everyone: yes. YES. *cue sickos faces* so we all thunder up the stairs periodically shouting JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY and our teacher snags another person who uses the slab roller A Lot and this person gives us a very thorough lesson and demonstration and every so often someone else wanders through and asks what’s happening and we all go JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY at them and now everyone knows how to use the slab roller and honestly I cannot recommend this approach enough as a way to make learning new skills and life generally more exciting. #LifeHack

Replies (31)

@BranwenOShea@writing.exchange 2025-11-25 14:30

@swachter@toot.boston love this for all of you!

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@gedvondur@hulvr.com 2025-11-25 14:59

@swachter@toot.boston That was very cool. Learning can be fun.

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@Apiary@mastodon.social 2025-11-25 15:36

@swachter@toot.boston so good!

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@inherentlee@flipping.rocks 2025-11-25 16:00

@swachter@toot.boston I love this so very much

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@CatRyan@oldbytes.space 2025-11-25 16:58

@swachter@toot.boston this is very much how things go down at my Hackspace. Want to learn a thing? Ask around and a few people might want to also learn together. I very much approve of this approach.

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@m750@better.boston 2025-11-25 17:04

@swachter@toot.boston love discovery journeys

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@deepmud@mas.to 2025-11-25 17:41

@swachter@toot.boston this sounds wonderful!

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@tezoatlipoca@mas.to 2025-11-25 18:28

@swachter@toot.boston I had to look up _what_ a pottery slab roller _IS_, but now I know. Next time I hang out with my professional potter friend, I can casually ask "So, I know you have like 3 different kilns, but how many slab rollers do you have?" and he will be impressed. Actually he'll be "ok what have you been reading on the internet _NOW_?" but he's cool. He makes me ceramics and artisinal bread with fancy grains and I fix his computer.

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@dragonarchitect@rubber.social 2025-11-25 19:15

@swachter@toot.boston "Journey of Discovery" is such a wholesome thing to get a whole group of people to do together 💙💙💙💙

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@davebauerart@mastodon.social 2025-11-25 23:47

@swachter@toot.boston Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. You took us on a JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY about discovery journeys!

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@Challis2070@mastodon.art 2025-11-26 02:32

@swachter@toot.boston Oooo, I loved the slab roller! I also loved showing my classmates how to make my 'balloon pots' even if they decided they didn't really want to go through the process after showing them. (Simple process. Slightly tedious, and is easier if you can manage to hold an upside-down, slowly drying pot being formed on a balloon. And can work on other clay with one hand, or you can't *do* much until it's dry enough. Which is a problem with limited class time) Journey of Discovery!!

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@cobalt123@beige.party 2025-11-26 02:32

@swachter@toot.boston I am not even into ceramics but now I want to go on a Journey of Discovery! Well done, you all!

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@lemgandi@mastodon.social 2025-11-26 02:32

@swachter@toot.boston Also cf: https://xkcd.com/1053

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@epicdemiologist@wandering.shop 2025-11-26 02:36

@swachter@toot.boston This approach got me on a bus from Atlanta to Minneapolis once...https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn94029049/2013-07-31/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Megabus+Megabus%27s+Megabus%E2%80%99s

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@GeoffreyWinn@kind.social 2025-11-26 02:44

@swachter@toot.boston I want to know how to use the slab roller upstairs. I want to walk into a class and talk to several people.

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social 2025-11-26 03:11

@swachter@toot.boston Oh, we need the hashtag for this, so everybody can post about our Journeys of Discovery for each other! My current one is battling to learn my way around a whole new computer system. But if I rename this process, from "exhausting battle" to "Journey of Discovery", the whole mood changes. #JourneyOfDiscovery

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@ajroach42@retro.social 2025-11-26 03:14

@swachter@toot.boston slab rollers are great and only a little scary.

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@earthlingusa@mas.to 2025-11-26 03:47

@swachter@toot.boston I bet you’re fun at parties. And I don’t mean that sarcastically. You sound like a great person to be around.

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@NicoleJLeBoeuf@wandering.shop 2025-11-26 03:58

@swachter@toot.boston As a brand new member of a Maker Space who has fallen in love with everything about it, I find this story resonates deeply within my soul. I signed up for a 3D Printing class in mid-December, and I herewith pledge to use the phrase JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY at some opportune moment during that class.

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@RussSharek@mastodon.art 2025-11-26 06:20

@swachter@toot.boston We do similar things while shouting "LEARNING!" gleefully. I might have to upgrade our phrasing...

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@bmd@toot.boston 2025-11-26 12:09

@swachter@toot.boston I love this framing and I also love that you can now roll slabs for me. I have been instructed on it but it is not exactly accessible... and I think getting a tray would make it worse not better.

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@chriscorrigan@mstdn.ca 2025-11-26 12:36

@swachter@toot.boston @soulcruzer

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@oldguycrusty@mastodon.world 2025-11-27 04:04

@swachter@toot.boston Wonderful. Basically child-like curiosity in the best way..

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@v@merveilles.town 2025-11-27 16:02

@swachter@toot.boston ah, love a slab roller! our studio just got one and... okay honestly it isn't very exciting, it's just that you no longer need to do the very tedious job of rolling a slab out with batons and a pin.

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@sindarina@ngmx.com 2025-12-04 16:34

@swachter@toot.boston @crinolinerobot@beige.party JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY! 😄 (I originally saw this toot a week ago, and it is still as great now as it was back then)

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@mfennvt@vermont.masto.host 2026-01-16 16:11

@swachter@toot.boston That is awesome!

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@ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz 2026-01-27 20:54

@swachter@toot.boston Just dropped by to say that I found this post via a slightly round-a-bout route, read it to my wife, and we have both kinda gently fallen in love with you. Thank you for the joy ... CC: @virtuosew@mathstodon.xyz

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@DavidGoldfield@allovertheplace.ca 2026-01-27 22:55

@FreakyFwoof@universeodon.com @swachter@toot.boston Wow, you guys in that pottery class are really kiln it.

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@vol4life8657@tweesecake.social 2026-01-28 00:32

@technocounselor@caneandable.social @swachter@toot.boston wow, that's awesome!

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@401matthall@mastodon.xyz 2026-04-02 23:14

@swachter@toot.boston I'm late to this particular party but this is the _best_ thing I've seen all day. <3

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@dystopia@mastodon.scot 2026-04-05 16:23

@swachter@toot.boston this is the sort of wholesome content that I am here for

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