Lara Bergen: Disney Fairies : Art Lessons by Bess

A pottery-making fairy named Raku came out of the workshop smiling. “You think Scarlett might be one of us? That would be lovely. Why do you think so?”

“The mud,” Bess explained. She realized that she and Scarlett were still filthy, head to toe.

“When we were out collecting ivy this morning, we fell in the mud, and Scarlett loved it!” Bess said.

Scarlett shrugged. “How could anybody not love mud?”

“That sounds like a potter, all right.” Raku gestured to her work apron, which was covered with splatters of clay. It won’t matter that Scarlett’s messy here, Bess thought. They all are! “Let’s give it a try. Ready, Scarlett?”

Scarlett glanced at the crowd of other fairies standing nearby. Bess would have been embarrassed to try — and fail — in front of them. But Scarlett lifted her chin proudly. “Ready!”

Maybe someday, Bess thought, I’ll be more like Scarlett, and I won’t care what other people think either. I hope so!

They walked inside the workshop. There, fairies and sparrow men kneaded clay on broad wooden tables. Others carefully used big paddles to slide soft new pots into the blazing kiln that would bake them into hardness.

Over her shoulder, Bess glanced at the other fairies and sparrow men who were crowding into the windows to see how Scarlett would do. When Scarlett walked near a shelf of newly fired pots — thin and breakable — a few fairies gasped.

Yet Scarlett broke nothing. She was sure and steady now that she was in the pottery workshop.

She’s really different here, Bess thought. It’s as if Scarlett belongs. I hope it’s true!

Raku brought Scarlett to a small pottery wheel in the corner. “Normally I would give you an apron to protect your dress,” Raku said, “but there’s not much point, is there?”

Scarlett laughed and pointed at her muddy clothes. “Not today!”

“Here’s what you do,” Raku explained, as she plopped down a hunk of clay in the center of the wheel. “You press on this pedal on the floor with your foot. That makes the wheel spin.”

Scarlett pressed once, and the wheel made a lazy circle.

Raku continued, “Then you dampen your fingers and put your hands on either side of the clay—”

“To center it on the wheel,” Scarlett said. Her eyes were sparkling with delight. “Then you can start to mold the clay.”

“Exactly!” Raku said. “Give it a try.”

A few sparrow men and fairies at the windows started whispering to each other. Bess suspected they were still predicting another disaster.

Come on, Scarlett, she thought. You can do it!

Scarlett began working the pedal, and right away the wheel began spinning merrily. She dipped her hands in a nearby bowl of water, then took hold of the clay. Immediately the shapeless lump became a perfect cone.

“She has it balanced already!” Raku said. “That’s wonderful!”

Right away, Scarlett pressed her fingers into the center of the cone, and as Bess and the others watched, the clay took the shape of a beautiful round bowl.

Everyone at the windows began to clap and cheer.

Scarlett let the wheel spin to a stop. “That was so much fun!” she said. “It felt so — natural! So easy!”

Raku put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re definitely a pottery-talent fairy,” she said. “I don’t even have to tell you what to do next, do I?”

“Next I trim the bottom of the bowl to give it a more pleasing shape,” Scarlett said. “And then I fire it in the kiln, to make it hard, and then I give it to my best friend.” She grinned at Bess.

Bess smiled back. “Then I paint it the prettiest color I can think of.” She looked at the bunches of ivy they had left at the door of the workshop. “Maybe dark green?”

Bess hugged Scarlett tightly. They got mud all over each other, but for once, Bess didn’t mind if everyone saw her get messy. Not one little bit.