Scenes of my Pottery Past

Did I mention that I used to be a potter? Well, I was. And it was crazy.

You see, about 2 weeks after I found out I was carrying our first child, I did a big time wholesale show - and it went well. I booked orders for more than a year. So I drove home from Philly and went to work.

I worked 14-16 hour days making, glazing, and firing pots the whole time I was pregnant with Eli. It was glorious and it sucked.

Then he got borned. Maternity leave? Psh. (First it's worth mentioning that stopped to unload my kiln load of pots on my way to the hospital to birth him, contractions and all). I was back in the studio before my Mama went home the week after he was born. I was a machine and it was not good.

I mean we survived it. But just barely.
We made do. I made pots with Eli strapped to my body. And I toted him to the pottery co-op to do all the glazing and gas firings. He loaded kilns with me. He napped while they fired. He got bathed in the glaze sink. He basically spent his first year in a pottery studio.

The glazing process took about a week of 12 hour days. And the firings were at least 18 hours, manning a gas kiln with flames shooting out of it. What a trooper he was.

I mean that's a lot of pots.

All of this to say - this go round is not going to be like that. The machine is broken. Think Amish. No electricity. No motorized parts. One pot at a time my friends. One pot at a time.

That makes me sound like I'm in Potters Anonymous. Ooo - that reminded me of this time I was in a cool shop with my friend Jodie, when she remembered that she had money to give me for some pottery I made for her. She yelled across the store, "Hey - I have the money I owe you for that pot."

Awkward.

But I digress...

I'm really excited about getting my hands in clay again. I can't tell you what it is about it that I love, but whenever I can't do it for a while, the first time I'm back at the wheel it's like, "Ahhhhh. This is what I've been missing." I certainly can't go at it like I used to - but I'm kind of excited about having to mix things up. I'm going to make all new pots in all new ways. Get excited.