More Things I've Made...

The first award I ever won for something I created was for a little stoneware pot.  I made it in art class while I was in kindergarten.  The crude little earthen vessel was formed using my elbow and adorned with "magical symbols".  Mrs. Dillard, my first art teacher, liked my descriptions of the powers of bowl so much that she had me demo making the pots at the year-end student talent showcase.  My class had been chosen to perform "Ten Little Indians" earlier in the evening and I was dressed up in a stamped pillowcase, a macaroni necklace and a construction paper headdress.   I think the outfit did much to complete the scene as I regaled the audience with stories of "witches bones and warrior faces".

It's no surprise that in my quest to return to joy of making things that I should go back to making little pots.

They're more refined than the ones that I made in kindergarten, but not by much.  I kept them simple on purpose.  These ones are made of porcelain and meticulously pinched out.  They fit in my hands perfectly and retain the finger-prints – evidence of their handmade origins.  For more texture, I used shells and porcupine quills.

I tried to make them as thin as possible.  After they were fired they took on a musical, bell-like quality.  I must confess that I delight in flicking them to make them ring.

I've made dozens of them now.  Some of them fit together.  Others stand alone.  I've glazed them with clear glaze and am dreaming of adding color in the future.  I don't know what to do with them besides look at them and examine them.  Some have suggested that I might sell them in the store, but for now I'm just happy with the process of making them and returning to a child-like glee, telling myself stories of magical bowls.