Fall Into Place

The transition from summer to fall officially began this past weekend and the cool rainy weather in our ‘neck of the woods’ underscored that changeover. Pumpkin-inspired everything has been evident everywhere in the build-up to the season, so it’s not a surprise that fall is actually here; I welcome the change of seasons, but also mourn the loss of the preceding time of year. 

Pottery is a messy business every step of the way!

My studio has been in fall and winter preparation for weeks. I have self-imposed deadlines to create the pieces I plan to make and sell for the upcoming holiday season. Part of this busy pressure is an attempt to space out the timing of clay production so it doesn’t all crunch together the week before a scheduled show or target date. I am ahead of schedule, but for some reason I’m still experiencing the pressure. 

Exploring new shapes always helps balance the repetition of making familiar shapes. Im testing out these new vase forms in the studio.

I think stress is built into the nature of creating pottery. It is an art form requiring attention throughout a long making process. Each step has it’s own pitfalls. Experience helps me avoid these common clay hazards, but from start to finish (at least a two week process), there are many stages where things can go wrong. That contributes to the pressure build-up in making art out of clay. 

Luckily, my years of clay-making have also taught me in the end that everything tends to fall into place. Planning ahead, sticking to a routine, brushing off the failures, and embracing the process all help me achieve my goals. Then it’s on to the next one!

Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water...

I was lucky enough to hear Paul Simon sing Bridge Over Troubled Water in concert this past week. The lyrics to this iconic tune as well as so many of his other memorable songs ring true to me today as powerfully as they did when I first heard them on my transistor radio, record albums or in the classic movie, The Graduate. Music can bind together gender, generations, culture, background, race, and religion. It is a universal bridge. 

This little village of Historic Huntsville Homes are part of a custom collaboration I’ve created for Harrison Brothers Hardware in support of the Historic Huntsville Foundation.

As powerful storms wreak havoc on so many of our neighbors in the United States and the world, it’s hard not to think about bridging the troubled waters life presents us with. How can we connect together as the world around us swirls apart? Bridges come in all sizes, shapes, and forms. They are a link that join together. 

This custom order wedding bowl will soon be gifted to a newly united couple, bonded together by the vows they are about to promise before friends and family.

Bridging can go beyond a physical structure. Daily living gives us ample opportunities to unify relationships, connect within our neighborhoods, and reach out to understand parts of the world that are so different from ours. Bonding together helps strengthen all sides. Be the bridge.

Show Of Hands

The set of ‘tools’ I repeatedly use in all my creative endeavors are my hands. I don’t often think about them as tools, but they are an integral part of the process when I create. Examining them closely, I see all the wrinkles, close to the surface veins, unkempt nails, and emerging age spots. Working with clay takes a beating on my hands, but for me it is well worth the trade off.

Examining any aspect of our life or body part close-up can lead to a negative focus. Minute details that are blown up and out of proportion can hang heavy and make us lose sight of the big picture. It can even go a step further when we compare those attributes to someone else and think others are better. 

Today is the start of the Jewish New Year called Rosh Hashanah. It is an important start to the religion’s high holy days of atonement ending with fasting for Yom Kippur. It is a time to reflect, offer forgiveness and move forward. I like that idea and believe it is an opportunity for all of us (even non-practicing Jews) to think about and contemplate because we are all in this world together. Saying we’re sorry for what we’ve done wrong, hoping to do better next time and offering forgiveness to ourselves and others is a good goal. 

I attended the opening of a group show at Frederick Community College this past weekend. I'm one of six incredible female artists; the assembly of our art envisioned by the show's curator, Margaret Hluch is a testament to the vastness of creativity and artistry in our world. If you live nearby, take the trip to see it over the next month. You will be glad you did!

For now, I'm thankful my hands help me express me.

Process Of Elimination.

It’s September. It’s Labor Day. Summer is ending and Fall is on the horizon. The days are getting shorter. Parts of my colorful garden are dying off. I often experience love/hate emotions when the seasons change. This year is no different. 

This little sweater-shaped dish is a work in progress. I based the design on an 'ugly sweater' ornament I made for a customer last holiday season. I am testing how the lettering 'one more row' shows up with a variety of single glaze applications. The autumn leaf (appropriately named!), shows up the best. Next, I'll experiment with using underglaze/glaze combinations until I come up with the best design. 

In the studio, I’ve been working on some new ideas. Often, I need to test a variety of creative options in order to determine the best design and glaze combination. This method frees me to experiment which can lead to successful surprises and satisfactory outcomes. Once I can see the finished options, I can usually eliminate what is not working and develop more that do.

The Alabama-themed series I've developed is nearing completion and I'm really happy with the results. I created my own textured Alabama-state stamps for use on a variety of shapes. All of these pieces will soon be available for sale at Harrison Brothers Hardware in Huntsville, Alabama. 

I can't eliminate the change of seasons from my life, but I have learned to appreciate the opportunity to adjust my daily routine. I don't like saying goodbye to long, sunny warm days. But instead of thinking about what I'll miss, I've learned to focus on what I love about each time of year and the chance to appreciate it all over again. The process of elimination, weeding out what doesn't work, leads us closer and closer to what does. 

D.I.Y.

Do It Yourself. I try to live by this credo. It happens naturally as a maker of art. I use my hands, experience, knowledge with a dose of experimentation to create. In the matter of life skills, I work to accomplish a certain amount of self-reliance too. I can’t replace the brakes on my car like my neighbor just did (he said it was easy — just a matter of four bolts!), but I can pick up trash along the beach to be helpful to the environment, replace a minor broken part of a toilet or phone the county to make them aware of excess roadwear from constant construction trucks rumbling through our neighborhood.

I'm sewing again. I was encouraged to practice making this pattern on material I already had in my stash. This way, I can confirm the proper fit, buff up my seamstress skills and familiarize myself with the pattern before attempting it on the newly purchased (slightly more expensive) fabric. It was great advice. I now fully trust I can successfully make another (even better).

Have you watched the new crafting competition show 'Making It" on television? I've enjoyed seeing the imagination, creativity, and variety of skills the artists unfold during each episode. Risks are encouraged; the results are incredible! A DIY attitude can be quite fulfilling. It’s satisfying to complete a project or task on my own. Sometimes it takes just the right tools and a trip to the local hardware store. Asking questions and advice from other experts helps build my own confidence so I can achieve success. And if my first attempts are not fruitful, I try to learn from the experience for the next attempt. A ‘can do’ attitude helps me become less and less fearful of failure.

Any time I receive a compliment on a sweater I've made, it feels great. I enjoy the reaction I get when I say, "I made this"! My years of stitching yarn into garments is a DIY skill that has taught me tons of lessons. If I've made a mistake, or don't like how the pattern is progressing, I will rip back the offending stitches and begin again. I know I enjoy the process of knitting just as much as completing a project. And when I finish one pattern to then begin another, I want to wear what I knit and be able to say, "I did it myself".

I’m not perfect. It’s easy to fall into complaining and wanting someone else to solve a problem without getting personally involved. But if we all take some responsibility and do our part to DIY, it benefits not only us, but the greater community. What have you done for yourself lately?

A Week Of Standards.

Not everything I make in the studio comes out ‘right’ the first time I make it. I have standards, you know! Maybe what I’ve created doesn’t meet my original vision. Perhaps one detail can be improved. Maybe the first design needs to be trashed and rethought. I’ve been thinking a lot about standards this week; several projects in process are not quite up to my standard. 

I'm prepping for this show and assembling the final pieces I've created. Click on photo for details!

What is my standard in the clay studio? It’s a great question and one I need to remember to ask regularly. My guiding principle is to create useful pottery that reflects the joy I feel each time I touch clay. Each ClayByLaura piece should reflect attention to detail and evidence of the maker. The quality of each finished piece needs to be free of any evident defect.

See the slight crack in the handle of this new tray shape? I love the shape, so I'll make some more. This one will be put to good use somewhere in my own home!

Sometimes the materials I use do not cooperate at various stages of the clay making process with the standards. For instance, clay can sometimes crack apart when it dries. It’s a bummer. All that work and effort results in a flaw that cannot be fixed. So, that piece is ditched and recycled back to soft clay to be reused. Sometimes imperfections do not appear until after the piece has been glazed and fired. At that point, it must be thrown out or if minimal, sold at a much lesser price as a ‘second’.

When I'm creating a prototype, I sometimes take the pieces through the final firing even with evident flaws. I learn from the process, can test different glaze finishes and apply my knowledge to the successful production next time. These little historic house boxes will be sold at Harrison Brothers Hardware to help raise money for the Historic Huntsville Foundation.

I listened to Aretha Franklin music a lot this week. Carole King and Joni Mitchell songs were also played. I know the words to that music; the songs evoke strong memories and emotion when I listen (and sing along). These were some of the ‘standards’ of my youth and the lyrics seem to resonate even more strongly now. “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.”; “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got, til’ it’s gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot…”; “You make me feel like a natural woman” (Aretha, Carole King and especially Candace Bergen in Murphy Brown’s rendition).

I'm playing with some new little catch-all bowl designs for The Knot House. I like where these are going!

There was a ‘feel good’ story reported on the news this past week that has stuck with me. It was about a young boy who caught a baseball at a Detroit Tigers game. He gave the ball to another young boy he didn’t know sitting in front of him (because it was his birthday). That young man caught a fly ball the following day and gave it to a little girl, because she’d never caught a ball at a game before. In the interview, the kids talked about their “line of awesomeness” and how it made them feel good. That's a standard I’m trying to emulate -- a line of awesomeness.

What's your favorite standard?

Time and Effort vs. Instant Gratification

Pottery is not an art form that produces instant gratification. Along the clay-making process, there are lots of mini-victories to celebrate, but time and patience are what eventually get rewarded. I am reminded of this still (even after decades of making pots) each time I try to rush through one of the steps to hurry the process. Clay does not like to be pushed to save time. 

I took that same lesson to the kitchen this weekend. I cooked my favorite lasagna recipe for dinner last night. All told, it was a 12 hour activity including shopping for non-staples, prepping the variety of ingredients (including pasta!) to cook and simmer throughout the day, assemble the layers, bake and enjoy. Was it worth it? Yes, yes it was. Would I cook like this every day? No, but when I do take the time, the payoff and enjoyment are well worth the effort. 

Here's what I'm knitting right now. It combines a special colorway called "The Knothouse 2018" hand-dyed by Periwinkle Sheep with a pattern by Casapinka called Local Yarn Shawl. As each pattern section builds, the final result, which takes weeks of nightly knitting will be phenominal! 

In today’s world of speedy internet and lots of electronic communication choices, it’s easy to get sucked into warp-speed addiction. Faster is better. If we don’t have to spend 12 hours cooking one meal, then we get to fill our time with lots of other productive activity. I like that premise, but I don’t think it’s always more productive. Just because we can cram more into a 12 hour period, doesn’t mean it is worthwhile. When I speed through life, I miss the nuance of each activity. Every once in a while its good to slow down and take your time.

Click on this recipe for the full instructions!

What Makes You Laugh?

I listened to the comedian George Carlin while I worked in the studio this past week. My laughter triggered a summertime flashback to the ease of the season in my youth. It was a time when bare feet, playing with friends at the pool all day, nighttime hide and seek games and laughter — lots and lots of laughter was the norm. There was no set schedule and it seemed like my friends and I were in control of our day-to-day adventures (even though our parents bore the responsibility of managing each unplanned whim). 

Then and now. Lots of laughter has been shared with these long-term friends! Back then, we listened to a record album of the Smothers Brothers over and over which repeatedly made us giggle!

As much as I crave routine and a daily schedule, the summertime freedom I remember when I was younger is appealing. Each day was filled with the possibility of creating a different adventure and friends were responsible for entertaining each other. We loved to make each other laugh and we were good at it. Silliness abounded. 

Maybe this is why I'm drawn to whimsy in my clay art. As an adult, it’s too easy to be endlessly serious. Responsibility has a way of tamping down laughter and funny behavior. But it sure does feel good to laugh and smile.  Note to self: try to laugh each day! How about you? What makes you laugh?