I took inspiration from the primitive technology youtube channel and managed to make a ceramic pot by extracting clay from mud. The pot looks a bit shit, but it holds water!
Tempted to try and make a bigger one sometime.
would love to see some pictures
This is one that I started a few days ago, its still wet currently and as its winter I doubt it will dry very fast. Want to wait for it to dry a bit more before smoothing it and then leave to completely dry and at some point start a fire in the garden to finish it.
Used a slab of clay as a base and placed leaves around it so that it doesn’t stick to the pot as I make it but to also give a bit of a sturdy platform I can pick up and rotate. From a previous attempt picking it up often caused the clay to flex and crack. Although that is probably also due to being pretty poor quality clay, this was done the next day with a different batch that has far better plasticity. Or it could just be that the first one needed more time for water to soak into the clay as it had been pretty much completely dry before.
Using leaves to prevent something sticking seems like it could be a useful method to mould clay against the object. Perhaps a way to make use of the lower quality clay that cracks very easily when trying to shape it normally.
Seconded! I’ve always wanted to try this.
I can balance a soda can at a precarious looking angle. A modern soda can has two rims on the bottom, the major diameter and a minor diameter. With the right amount of soda in the can, it will balance on those two rims.
I actually found a use for this skill, it’s good for teaching weight and balance in flight school.
I can run any piece of machinery with an hour of goof around time. Doesn’t matter what it is. Let me poke around it for an hour or so and I’ll have all the controls and most quirks figured out.
Sadly it’s useless because employers won’t give me a chance to prove it.
I have been told by multiple Korean, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants that I could make a decent living as an extra eating with chopsticks in the background of their TV/ movies. I use a pair of stainless steel chopsticks with no notching, so they are totally smooth, making them “master level” difficulty to use. Apparently the fact that I’m left handed is a bonus. Oh, I’m the whitest kid you know with sandy blonde almost brown hair.
I’m a ridiculously good mimic - if I hear a sound I can often immediately repeat it; crow call, human voice, chickens. Anything in my limited vocal range. Not after the memory fades, but really so close right after. Once in the car one of my kids was whining and I so perfectly repeated it that all of them collapsed in laughter, whiner included.
I can hide my tongue behind my soft palate.
I’ve said to my kids, “Where’s my tongue?”, then opened my mouth and it’s not there.
I can also make a mushy pile of skin in my knee by gathering skin inside the circle of my thumb and index finger (like an ok sign). It feels gross when you push it.
I’m a fun dad.
I know the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody.
I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 15 seconds. (I had an obsessive phase as a teenager). I don’t think I’ve ever used that skill in my adult life, but they are fun figet toys for when I’m stressed.
I couldn’t tell you how to solve them because i am more than a decade out of practice. But if i just let my fingers handle it without thinking much i can still complete it now and then.
I can stop a microwave on zero. Not 1. 0.
these are people you should be scared off
I can wiggle my little toes independently.
I’m strangely good at catching things intuitively (??).
Like, if my kid throws something at me, I can catch it without looking at it. Almost every time, it’s fun
I can sit down and calmly read an entire manual from front to back.
Lol it has to be printed, and not like, a textbook
I can read and write the standard galactic alphabet from commander keen
I know the frog mating calls for all species of frogs in my area and volunteer for the local DNR to survey frog populations in my county. It’s a good indicator of water quality.
I took a random amphibian research class as an elective, loved it, and still do it 20+ years later.
The only contests I ever won were an eating contest (6 large Pizzas) and one where I had to correctly identify 6 different brands of Cola in a blind test.
My other biggest strength is extreme long distance endurance. I’m not fast, but I can be “not slow” for 40 hours.Taco Bell gave me a “golden” PS4 a few years ago.
I also have ridiculous endurance. I can honestly say that an Amish crew told me that “No Englishman has ever outworked us before!” I appreciated their help, but I wanted that tree dealt with before it got any colder. Tree blew down in Hurricane Irene, and I needed it racked and ranked to start drying.
I’ve been “not slow” for a few decades now.
