Celebrating fur friends

Janet is a veterinarian who often comes to play in the clay with me when she has a day off. She is very creative-- and surely the only vet I know who actually makes “abodes” for toads!

Most of us have had beloved pets over whom we’ve made hard decisions and then grieved. I still miss Atticus years later, and long after adopting another great rescue dog. I can only imagine how hard it is for the veterinarian whose job it is to facilitate those end of life choices, and I know I have been most grateful for those who truly empathize with the pet owner’s loss. It means a lot when a vet (like other people) communicates that he or she feels that loss with you. It’s not just a medical intervention; it’s a personal experience—and a tough one.

Janet recently decided to begin making ornaments with the pet’s names to give to the people who have had to make those judgments and are missing their animal friends. A simple heart will never make up for the loss after some cat or dog or other creature has left paw prints all over our hearts for a good number of years, but it can go a long way toward letting someone know that you care and share in their mourning. I have made several grave markers for friends’ dogs when they died, and they have been much appreciated by Gus’s, Fancy’s, and Benjie’s people. A marker can be quite a job (and being thick, it takes forever to dry), but a small memento can mean a whole lot too! They can be in any shape and perhaps don’t even need the pet’s name on them. It’s the sharing that counts.

Beads, Balls, Berries and Baubles

“Nope,” says the first guy, “I want plain leaves, no little gewgaws or whatever those are.” “Be sure it has lots of those little doodads,” says the next customer, “I love the little dark balls and berries.” 

“Doodads” are like anything else: people love them or hate them! I started adding little balls to my pumpkin pots many years ago. I think they soften them, sometimes help balance them, or simply add interest. Nature is full of little pods, galls, and nuts, so the tiny additions look to me like they belong there. It took me awhile to figure out how to make acorns out of clay; for a long time I made little balls and left it at that. These little additions are likely to occur anywhere on the pot, although it is generally only the ones on the rim that people have to have or to avoid. They may or may not notice the others.

I long ago fell into the habit of putting a metallic “Saturation Gold” edge on my pot rims, and that goes on the “beads, balls, berries and baubles” too. It is food safe when properly fired and helps finish the pieces. What do you think? Are you pro or con baubles, doodads, and gewgaws?

Studio Art Tour

The big news around here is the upcoming Studio Art Tour. Scheduled for Saturday, 10 October, it involves 9 different artisans, artists, and galleries between Mathias and Wardensville in rural Hardy County, West Virginia. The idea is to visit the studios to see where these creative people work and how they make their art. In some cases, the large or unwieldy machinery involved in the artistic process makes transport to demonstrate elsewhere impossible. In all cases, seeing how something is actually made prompts appreciation for the handmade, one-of-a-kind items.

Visiting the studios will allow you to get to know 15 year old Clayton whose creativity and imagination are expressed in the unique metal sculptures he creates in his father’s garage. The tour includes Bob’s wonderful rocking chairs that you can melt right into because they are custom made to fit your body, as well as innovative Toni’s West Virginia wine tasting. Other treats include Josh’s charming silverware jewelry and horseshoe art, and Albert’s beautiful stained and fused glass. The tour is rounded out with Joshua Miller’s fine furniture and wood sculptures made in his old church at the edge of the road on the edge of the woods, and my handbuilt stoneware. (I promise cookies to encourage people to cross our streams to get to Lost Hollow.) In addition to these art studios, there is a modern mountain general store with everything from an espresso bar and bakery to antiques, and the Lost River Artisans Cooperative co-housed with the only farming family museum around!

Whatever the weather, it will be a great day and you can see all of the studios between 10 AM and 5 PM. The wine tasting is limited to 1-3 PM, but the rest can be done in any order, at any time during the day, and all at no charge. Visit either one of these websites for the details: www.lostrivertradingpost.com or www.lostrivercrafts.com. All directions to the studios are given from state route 259. It is too beautiful an area and too great an opportunity to miss!

Bears, bears, bears

We see black bears here in the wild, wonderful hills of West Virginia-- although not as many as I’d like. I love that bears share their woods with me, but mine is a minority view. Many folks prefer not to think of anybody quite that large and omnivorous out there with them. It may make more sense to worry about deer ticks or venomous snakes, but it is bears that make them nervous. Perhaps it is the bears’ unpredictability. Our son assured his wife many times that, for all his trips out here, he had yet to see a bear. Of course, a big one immediately ran right in front of their car. When Erica joins Greg and the kids for a visit, she tends to stick pretty close to the porch.

Yet people like the roly-poly shape of bears, along with the tales they can tell back in the city. There are a lot more deer and cattle than bears in the Lost River Valley, but it is the bears we use as a symbol. At the Lost River Artisans Co-op, our store manager uses bear ornaments as special rewards for customers and they are popular. We make sheep for Fiber Fest, but we make bears for Heritage Weekend and other events. The great thing about Doug is that he shows up to help make his ideas happen. So he and I made bears. We made a lot of bears. There are dozens of them as in the kiln (hopefully behaving themselves) as I write this.

We roll out clay and cut out bears. Then we imprint the back with something textured and stamp LRV on the front for the Lost River Valley. (George Washington had no idea what he began when he failed to realize that the Cacapon merely went underground for a spell and was not lost.) Then Doug uses a straw to make a hole, hopefully in the right place so the trinket hangs evenly. The bears dry a bit and the edges and holes get cleaned—a tedious task. More drying, and then I bisque fire them. Doug returns-- bless the man-- and we glaze. First we put black on the front and back to showcase the LRV and the textured print to add interest. Then we put clear glaze on the front and I add a line of metallic gold along the edge. Into the kiln they go. A $5 purchase at the co-op and you can own one too!

PS: Just saw a post on facebook that said Kathy will be demonstrating her unique pottery making skills this Saturday and Sunday. (added by Deb Fischer of The WoodArt Studio) 

Inside, outside, upside down

Having grown up working with textiles, I still mix my metaphors and borrow techniques. People often ask about the “appliques” I put on many of my pots. They are great fun and can thematize or personalize any stoneware. I make molds out of clay and simply fire them unglazed. For the shapes, I use seashells, small toy plastic animals, real seed pods or corn cobs---just about anything that strikes me as a potentially interesting and transferable shape when reversed. I use a few commercially produced molds as well.

I particularly like the contrast of creating figures from my buff clay and applying them to pumpkin pots (that is, made over pumpkins) that are made of darker clay. The contrast works well with my usual glazing and firing process: bisque firing and then brushing on a black glaze, wiping most of that off, and applying a clear glaze and my signature rim of “Saturation Gold” (which is simply dark with metallic highlights unless applied heavily). The clays are all non-toxic and the glazes all food safe when properly fired.

The appliques can go on anywhere inside or outside a pot. I enjoy watching students learn to handbuild so that the surface they want to use is the one exposed. It becomes automatic over time, but challenges some---and is perhaps most difficult for potters accustomed to throwing on a wheel and having both sides available for embellishment. In my studio, since pots are frequently upside down when they are made (typically by draping and pressing clay down over a pumpkin or other round object) and any inscriptions or additions are applied, I can always tell which students did well in geometry. As much as I love spacial challenges, I have carefully put in place (after scoring and adding slip) more than one figure that would have been permanently up-side down when the pot was flipped right side up!