Trusted Companion

  

  Steady, Constant, Workhorse, Dependable, these are just a few of the words that come to mind when I think of my trusted companion; my SINGER.  I remember finding this machine at a yard sale when I was just seven.  I think we paid fifteen dollars for it, and Mom thought it was a great thing.  Little did we know then it would long outlast her fancy new machine that she wanted to keep me from. 

  I had to take some time today to clean this machine.  It was slowing as the morning drug on clear it was in need of some maintaining attention.  Taking a pause in my current project I carefully swept out the dust and oiled all the right spots to remove the clatter than had crept in over the past month or so.  Checking the belt tension and putting it back upright I was flooded with memories I have made with this machine.  Doll Clothes, Favorite Shirts and Skirts, My Prom Dress, A Wedding Dress along with Brides maid’s dresses all made with this machine.  Then the baby clothes and baby quilts for each one that came along. Party dresses, Easter and Christmas dresses; I think I may remember each and every one coming full circle with teaching my daughters how to make doll clothes of their own.  Thirty –six years I have worked with this trusted machine by my side always knowing it would get me through yet another project; another masterful memory.

All in the Mark

I was standing just a minute and waiting with my daughter to get an autograph after seeing Broadway's Jekyll and Hyde, when it hit me just how much there is in "The Signature".  More than identity, who we call ourselves, it is our mark.  The imprint we leave most on this world.  Usually the first thing we learn to write as youngsters it is ours to share for a lifetime.  I know my mark has undergone many transformations.  Born a Regina, I was quickly given the nickname Reggie.  I grew up knowing that was who I was.  In and around my high school years I wanted to make it more my own and I dropped the final e.  Proudly signing all my art projects as Reggi.  When again in college as I continued to study art and work within my own creativity it changed again.  I began signing as Regina but usually you could only make out the  first four letters as the remainder faded out, which is now my signature; Regi.  As a potter, your mark is everywhere.  I have been asked over the years numerous times about my signature or mark.  Some pieces have slipped through without my mark but from hours of thought (probably too much) and lots of practice I have worked hard on the signature as well as trying to figure out where to leave it.  Painters usually sign their work in the bottom corner or underneath depending on the type of framing that will be happening.  Ceramists (Clay People) have a number of ways to mark their work.  Their name on the bottom of the work, lower side of the work,  some incorporate it and make it part of the work.  Some don't use a name at all but a "Mark"  be it a stamp, or set of symbols that are used to identify the work to it's individual.  I have tried most of these options over the years. Depending on the mood at completion of the project or simply experimenting in different looks.  Not to long ago I was prompted again to "sign your work and be proud of it" when a friend was looking at a piece where my signature had been covered by the glazing process.  At that time I did not think to much of the reminder, but when I was standing in that moment waiting with my daughter.  waiting just for someone's signature.  It dawned on me that it really might be something I should make more of a priority.  Not that my signature will ever create lines of waiting fans, but it will mean something to someone who has a piece of my work. And it certainly should mean something to me.  signed proudly - Regi

Housekeeping

Sometimes all I want to do is play in the studio.  Forget everything but me and the mud!  Lately there has not been time for any creating in the clay corner.  It is all still in the middle of transition and just not quite ready for major production.  But there is always plenty to do.  The whole picture has a "to do" list a mile long. One such item on the list has been the website.  The program I use to keep up our website has undergone some upgrades and changes.  All for the better, and I am excited about some of the new offerings, however it means that I have been needing to spend some real time in getting all our things re-listed within the new format. That is time I have been avoiding.  To give myself that kind of time in front of the computer just does not seem reasonable sometimes. I really need to change my thinking around this type of work.  I do know it is necessary housekeeping for the business end of things, And so it begins; housekeeping on the website. In a couple of days I hope to unveil the new and improved.  It will feature an updated look, new shop, cart and the ability to narrow your viewing by categories.  Hopefully - if I get it all right!  Just in time for the upcoming holiday season.  Wish me luck!   -Regi

Mishaps!

Studio work can be tricky sometimes.  Like moving bone dry work from one area to another OR kiln loading can occasionally end with in mishap.  Knowing this is precisely why my husband is ban from my clay studio space.  He has a fantastic way of putting his finger through something that has just come off the wheel or apply to much pressure when picking up the fragile bone dry work that is awaiting the kiln loading and having it crumble right in his hands.   Knowing full well he, (or any other culprit), does not mean to damage the work in hand, but wishing all the while they would just leave things alone.  It is hard enough not to make my own blunders altering a piece of work right into recycle bin.  Too often curiosity just wins over. My latest casualty  at the hands of another culprit is my porcelain carved plate a work I will definitely have to replicate.  Honestly I do need the practice on plates and there is no better time than now.  -Regi

Push has come to SHOVE!

Back off, slow down, don't wanna have too much to move. That is what my logical mind told me.  NO, No, no: WRONG is what a trusted adviser told me!  "You need to arrive LOADED with fun, imaginative and new work for the ready".  Once it was put out there it did make so much more sense to me.  Although now I feel like I am way behind on the jump.  So with push come to shove: I am changing mode again now resorting to make room for the wheel and making my wish list for the supply run next week, all the while I am going over and over the sketches I have been diligently making not to loose these thoughts along the way of a year packing clearing out the closets.  I cannot wait!!!!  It has been weeks.  I miss the smell of the clay! I am so excited and I am gonna get started with the 100 mug challenge!  While I make some needed new clay tools for impressions and patterns! A perfect way to resume work I think!  -Regi

Push

Some times in life we get comfortable.  We go to the closest grocery not because it is the one we like to shop in but it is close and we are saving in gas, right?  Or we get into a routine in our work that just follows a pattern of doing , or worse yet shadowing someone else's  doing and not really taking on our own.  This can be playing it safe in so many ways, especially in art and creativity. Some times we need that push.  That nudge to get things moving in ones own direction.  It is not always an easy thing to take though.  It can come as a shock, or a jolt.  However it has showed up for me over the years it never stops me from taking a look at where I am at present and making changes where needed.  In my creative life there have been several changes over this past year.  Some changes were of my own doing, some as a need to get out routine that suddenly showed up as a rut.  And although change can be hard and transitions are not always quick, I am sitting  mid-swing of some of the bigger changes and it feels like I am heading in a good direction.  Slowing down in some production was a very hard choice to make for right now but I think this time next year I will appreciate the choice and be ready to relocate and set up a new and make some new things happen.  Thanks for the push and here is to the future! -Regi

Generations

I am sitting in my sewing room today and while I am working on a wall hanging that will be quilted.  I stop to look at the fabrics, notice the colors, feel the fibers and it strikes me that some might think this an odd twist in things to put together, I see generations.  There are two, definitely, maybe even three generations of creativity before me in my family.  My Mother; who sewed and introduced me to thinking outside the lines when I was making things on my own, was alive in music.  Singing was her passion, dentistry was her profession.  She now uses her attention to detail to create wonderful silver wearable art work still sews with me as we share ideas for quilts.  My Grandmother, who also helped teach me to sew as a young girl, created her own world of vibrant life through color in paintings that adorn homes around the world today.  While her work was on canvas, she loved the work of the potter.  I remember from my earliest days that she had a pottery collection that fascinated me.  When I visit her home there is always an abundance of colors and textures, on the walls in her paintings, in the dishes and pottery pieces that were around and her choice of fabrics on the furniture all the way down to  the carpets on the floor;  a feast for my senses.  I know that my Great Grandmother had a creative vibe in her life as well.  I see so many of these influences in this one piece.  I definitely see how these generations of creative women have shaped my own directions of creativity.  I would not have it any other way.

 -Regi