This past Saturday, my husband distracted the baby and I got out some clay and worked.  I’ve had a lot of time to think of new ideas, and managed to sketch a few during some of my quiet sleeping-baby-holding hours.

There are some things I’ve forgotten, some habits I need to re-establish.  When I neatened up my studio back in January, I didn’t do it in a fashion to help the present Me remember how I used to do things. There were specific little groupings of tools I would use for each type of project back then, and they have gotten mixed up somehow, placed in separate containers from their fellows.  A few other insidious changes – the aloe monster and kale seedlings borrowing the sunny spot on my table, the slight hardening of the bag of porcelain I left off with 8 months ago, and the dust! – surprised me.

I enjoyed myself anyway, cutting through the stiff clay with a wire and kneading it up into a usable ball, albeit with a bit of sweat. The last time I made something was over a month before my son’s birth, and the carpal tunnel symptoms brought on by pregnancy had become somewhat crippling. It was nice to feel my strength again, with the passage of time between me and that weakness.

But I am trying to remember how it used to be, before my hands got too stiff. Not all habits are bad ones. Then again, is this an opportunity for re-invention?

I’ll just speak that question into the air and leave it at that for now.

I made four little pots, letting myself experiment and have fun.  I hope I’ll have some good fruit of my labors to show you here soon, and some new techniques I can explain in future posts.

Thanks for being here.