persimmon

persimmon
Originally uploaded by Bridgman Pottery

Here's one of the things I made based on your suggestions, both here and on facebook. This piece, actually, came directly from this photo, which I just couldn't stop thinking about.

I also made a pear, and began experimenting with mishima. I'll get some photos later (still in the kiln, which is now cool enough to unload, but it is a) snowing and b) I am still in my jammies) but the underglaze I used wasn't dark enough for the design to really pop. Surface design is not what excites me most about pottery, but it is fun to try new things.

It is snowing, and snowing hard. We don't get much snow in Memphis (which is fine, because we collectively freak out at the sight of a single flake), so everyone is home and I'm about to begin a marathon session of baking and soup-making, knitting, and maybe a little pottery-making. Maybe not. I'm going to enjoy the snow day!

hope

This Doctors Without Borders update is long overdue. Y'all helped me raise $400 to send for their relief efforts in Haiti. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to you for helping me to do this. As a family, the Bridgmans would have only been able to send a small, small portion of that amount (we channeled our personal support through Episcopal Relief and Development which went directly to St. Vincent's orphanage, school, and hopsital with which our congregation is affiliated.) for relief efforts. This morning, after I saw that the paypal transfer came through, I sent that money on to Doctors Without Borders.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

request

I'm a bit stuck. I've been restocking in the studio- making things I need to make, but I'm not exactly inspired (no, that's wrong- I'm VERY motivated to bring in money for my family. But I'm not excited about it) by what I'm doing. Surface design really isn't what gets me excited about pottery- it's the form that does great things for me.

So I'm trying to work through this stuck, but would you, could you, send me some images (or urls of images on line) that you find lovely and inspiring, shape/form wise? Pretty please?

Thank you!

respite

There are so many things that I need to do today, but after weeks of cold and dark, and last week's intensity and sorrow with Haiti's earthquake, I needed a break. So I spent most of this glorious, warm day outside in the garden. Clearing out the asparagus bed, mulching, weeding, cutting down a prickly holly or two, pulling oak and privet seedlings. Filling the birdfeeders for the new chickadees, putting out more apples for the mockingbirds, adding a good thick layer of compost to the vegetable garden. Tackling the hateful bermuda grass that has crept into all of my front garden beds, strangling the perennials with their rope-like runners. I still need to pack and ready boxes for shipping tomorrow, but it was so wonderful to be outside. 60 degree days in January is one of my favorite things about living in Memphis.

gratitude

fifteen
Originally uploaded by Bridgman Pottery

Every year for lent I try to take on the habit of gratitude. It is starting early for me this year. The response from you- my readers, my friends, my loyal customers- to my little fundraising project for Doctors without Borders efforts in Haiti have blown my mind. I am truly, truly humbled. So far, you've brought in almost $250 (ETA-I'm about to go to bed early, and at 8:20 CST, we're almost at $300! YAY!) .

There are some other crafty benefits going on- so SO many artists have donated to Craft Hope's efforts. I added an egg vase, but it's gone. There is one left in my shop and a few more in storage I can dig out if need be.
My friend, Tomi, a metalsmith and jewelry extraordinare, has organized an auction of handmade rings to benefit Haitian relief efforts. Find out more about the rings and auctions here.

I'm grateful for your outpouring of support. I'm grateful for my home and family. I'm grateful that we're all feeling for others, and forgetting about our own hardships for the moment. Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend.

haiti

you know, I am going to have an etsy update. And I'm going to donate 60% of all sales (I'm keeping the rest for my IRS obligations) to Doctors without Borders to help out with Haitian Earthquake relief efforts. My church, led by one of our deacons who has been blessed with the gift of hospitality and works tirelessly to feed the hungry, works with the Haiti Partnership, an ecumenical group here in Memphis, to send a group of doctors, pharmacists, and other good-hearted people to Haiti twice a year to work with St. Vincent's Hospital and Orphanage in Port-au-Prince, and St. Paul’s Church (Episcopal)in Montrouis, Haiti. And one of our neighbors was a volunteer with the Peace Corps and married Erenante, a lovely woman from Haiti. Their children and my son are classmates and good friends. We were overjoyed to hear that her immediate family was safe, concerned for her other family in Port-au-Prince. My heart has been heavy for Haiti and her people.

So. I will have mugs, sets of tiny bowls, a cake plate or two, buttons, and egg cups up at my etsy shop. And I'll have them up by Friday. If you want some pottery and you want to alleviate any post-holiday shopping guilt, know it will go for a good cause. I'll update again on Friday with photos of some of the "new" work I've listed and I'll update again with a total of what I'm turning over to Doctors without Borders. I can't do everything, but I can do something.

quiet

eleven
Originally uploaded by Bridgman Pottery

um, hello there. let's see. I have been knitting, trying to stay warm (yesterday the temps got back into the 40s! yay!), dealing with a house full of stomach flu, working on business taxes- sales and prep for federal, and personal tax prep. Taking pictures. Helping with some minor and some serious home improvements (a new radiator cover/bench, further weatherizing the house to minimize the -10 winds howling through the shoji-screen like walls of old Southern homes not accustomed to such weather). Thinking about pottery. Thinking about listing some pieces on etsy later this week. Talking with some farmer friends about a new CSA/ co-op opening in Memphis and having some pottery there. Talking to a friend who owns a small business who made an initial order so.much.bigger than I anticipated.

I hope, at some point this week, to go upstairs and get back into the clay. It seems like I have a meeting in the middle of the day every day this week. 7:15 am school plus 11 or 12 meeting then 2 pm pickup, 5:30 pm supper, 7 pm bedtime means studio time has to happen at night. As much as I used to be a productive night owl, I'm not anymore.

How are y'all?

arctic

little red
Originally uploaded by Bridgman Pottery

I still have not made it upstairs. It is cold, cold outside. We got just the smallest bit of snow, and lows that we never see in Memphis. So the Bridgmans have been cozying up the house- putting benches over our radiators (because that is my favorite place to be), making lots of bread and soup, working on, finishing, and adapting knitting. Winding yarn into balls with my swift (that is endlessly entertaining). Playing with legos and action figures. Beginning to organize our tax documents.

I am thinking about pottery though. And already getting requests for berry bowls. Sunday's high is supposed to be above freezing, so next week I'll go up and throw again.

Can you believe that we took the canoe out on new year's day? Well, I didn't, because I am wimpy about the cold and I didn't want to put little boy in a boat on a 35 degree day. And now it is covered (dusted?) with snow.

Happy weekend and warm wishes.

# five

five
Originally uploaded by Bridgman Pottery

from the one-a-day photograph series I'm embarking upon this year. Lots of folks over at flickr have been doing this for several years. I saw my friendJennifer was doing it and decided to copy-cat her.


I thought I'd get back up to the studio this week, but my studio is in the unheated second floor of our house (unheated because there are no radiators up there, and I don't want to turn on our forced-air heat system that blows dust around, makes noise, is expensive, and is inefficient), and when the day's high hovers around 20 (and when I have an ear infection that makes me cranky, to boot), I stay as close to the stove and radiators as I can, knitting (since last week I've finished 2 pair of socks, a hat, am 75% finished with a wrap for me and whipped out a cowl for my boy today, with new yarn for a sweater to come), making soup, baking bread.

Since I'm doing the St. Jude market on Jan. 29, I'll have to get up there and start making again soon, but until the weather is a bit more accommodating, I'm downstairs, following the warmth and light like a cat.

Hope y'all are staying warm.