Wednesday, February 21, 2007

the potter re-emerges!

I finally plucked up my courage today and went to visit the ceramics professor at the university here. I had heard that faculty wives could use the campus studio, but hadn't received any response to my e-mail queries a few months ago. After a sweat-free meeting and brief tour, I walked home HAPPY: in exchange for a bit of work of the cleaning/kiln loading variety, I have FREE STUDIO TIME! It is unbelievably convenient for me: the art building is across the parking lot from my daughters' school on campus, so I can get muddy while Marian is in kindergarten. I've been busy with other projects, but am lusting after a bit of clay. I'm first planning for more of these in time for the Easter season:

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

valentine love spots


I made these needle-felted hearts for my shop and they were great fun. I sold all I listed, but made some for me. Soft and warm and love in your pocket.

Needle-felting is my favorite new art; I can't believe I'd never even heard of it until a couple of years ago at a Waldorf school fair, but am secretly delighted it's still under the radar. I bought most of my fiber from an ebay seller, lambkinwool, who has a small operation in Maine, writes darling personal e-mails, and won first prize in the state fair this summer for her fleece. I love knowing my fiber and getting small, personal bits. Like knowing my bag of snow-white alpaca (bought at the Shippensburg Corn Festival) came from a little sweetie named Laurel Rose.

beginning

Three of those I love best introduced me to petunias. First, my mother always grew these hardy beauties in our often-cold Idaho yard. My oldest daughter decided early on that purple petunias (bright and soft) were her favorite flowers. My father, a lover of parables and hard work, mailed me a story that praised the humble petunia: it cheerfully and gloriously blooms even in cold weather or poor soil. Not temperamental, undemanding. A petunia life is my goal right now: to make my life fertile through my own imagination, to deliberately be a beautiful soul in a beautiful world. I want to make beautiful things. I want to see the beauty in my husband and daughters and family of origin. I want to live with grace. I want to be resilient and brave and to serve well and demand little. I want to teach my children to live lives of beauty and independence.