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A little COVID story....about this time last year I thought I’d like to take up pottery. Keep me off the streets. So I bought a little wheel and some clay. End of Feb, hubs found a used kiln and then....March. This is March 26.
By early April, I could make a few things that didn’t look like they had been made by a caveman in a hurry.
I finally succeeded in producing mugs that - while they wouldn’t win any beauty contests - did actually hold beverages and convey them to your mouth.
Easter....at home with no church and no big gathering. We wore our bonnets. Like for everyone, it was sad and sweet. But it also gave me an idea.....
We had a little group that would sometimes gather to socially distance worship in a friend’s yard so..... COVID communion set. Individual servings for individual households.
Learning to make these wee cups took a lot of tries, so I made the leftovers into candles, which we passed out to friends and neighbors.
By June I could make handles that did not look like they were stuck on with duct tape by a five year old. Not perfect but not a complete embarrassment.
July. My first tragedy. An explosion in the kiln. A kilnpocalypse, if you will. Lost a lot of good pots that day. RIP
Nevertheless, we soldier on.
Here’s a before and after of a glaze firing from August.
I made a lot of pots. Seriously there were pots everywhere.
But I’ve discovered that if you make them into candles people will take them and at least pretend to be happy about it.
In October, I lost a shelf to a overly runny glaze. The shelf is still in the house, the pot forever fused to the surface. Future anthropologists will find it deep in the earth and know a bad potter lived in this region.
But I also made some pretty bowls in October. About 9 inches in diameter, so smallish but my husband humors me.
November. Thanksgiving without our traditional large gathering. Way more turkey than the five of us could eat.
But also tried some new glaze techniques.
Oh I forgot the pumpkin lanterns from October. Out of order but they turned out cute.
We hung them in the tree and then on Halloween launched candy at kids from a distance with a water balloon launcher. It was a big hit. Candy everywhere.
Also in November, there was a baby SNAKE on my kitchen counter who ran into a bag of peppers for some reason and that was very exciting even though it had nothing to do with pottery. Released him outside.
Anyway, here’s a before and after glaze firing from November. The changes in the glaze are like magic. Magic, I tell you.
Recently, I’ve been able to make some truly large bowls, 15 inches in diameter or so.
Here’s the big bowl with a glaze job I’m mostly but not entirely happy with. It’s for a good friend if he likes it but if he doesn’t that’s ok.
I’ve given most of my best mugs away but I think they generally turn out well now.
I also discovered that if you put paper white bulbs in your extra pots (mostly mugs I forgot to put the handle on), people will take them and are usually happy about it.
On a lot of these pots, I signed the bottom and then added “COVID 19” because I wanted to express that something beautiful can come out of this year. That’s my COVID journey. I hope that there is light and hope in your lockdown this winter as well.
