It always surprises me how often everyday items are used in a professional or expert setting.
I find specialist tools fascinating and usually the more niche (but importantly, effective) the better. I relish an excuse to visit a hardware store and can never resist wandering around for a bit longer than is strictly necessary, just seeing what magical tools and bits of hardware are available; one of which is sure to change my life, if only I can find it.
This love of tools does mean I have complicated feelings about using everyday objects to do something specialist, it can be a bit disappointing! However, I hate waste and can be a bit stingy, so when I can use something I already have, or that is cheap and easy to get hold of, it does give me a hit of satisfaction.
Ceramics is one of those professions which has a lot of highly specialist tools available (kilns, wheels, pugmills etc etc) but can actually be stripped back to a bit of mud, a hand and a fire.
I was working in the studio the other day and it occurred to me how many household items I actually use in my everyday work so here are my top 5:
1) Kettle - Racing to the top spot because it’s absolutely freezing in London right now. I don’t have running water in my studio, let along hot running water. So every morning I boil a full kettle and use it to top up my buckets of throwing water and also the water I wash my hands in. Unfortunately this doesn’t eliminate the necessity of plunging my hands into freezing liquid (clay reclaim and glaze for example), but it definitely helps fend off the chilblains.
2) Credit / oyster / loyalty card - These are unendingly useful. Mostly for scraping clay off things like the wheel-head, splash tray or worktop, but they are also useful when throwing lidded jars to create the gallery - after heavy use, the cards wear down making the corners nice and sharp, perfect for this task.
3) Bum cream - When my son stopped using nappies I found myself with several half-empty tubes of nappy rash cream. Having run out of hand cream in my studio one day (pottery makes my hands extremely dry) I thought I’d just use a bit of the left over bum cream and I’ve never looked back. I try and apply it before I do anything else in the studio - it’s designed to keep water out of skin so on reflection it is perfectly designed to keep your hands as soft as a baby’s bottom!!
4) Baby-monitor - So it seems babies come with all sort of useful items. When I was still on maternity leave and my son eventually leant to nap, I would run out into the studio to try and get a bit of work done while he was sleeping. I quickly realised that as well as letting me know when he had woken up, the monitor was also picking up the doorbell so I could pop back into the house to open the door! It worked so well I’ve continued to use it for this purpose and have it permanently set up in our hallway with the other end in the studio. It works a treat. Who needs a Ring doorbell anyway?
5) Yogurt pots - I eat a lot of yogurt (got to keep that gut healthy) and I live in a part of London with a lot of Turkish and Kurdish people so our corner shops are filled with lots of amazing delicious products, including GIANT yogurt pots. Once the yogurt is gone, the containers are such a useful size. They’re mostly used for holding liquid, usually water, for throwing, sponging, glazing etc. They also have a good tight seal when the lid is on so I use one for storing the old scraps of clay I use to hold pieces in place when trimming - I’ve used the same lump of clay for this purpose for years - I give it a good spray after I’ve used it, pop the lid back on and it’s ready for when I next need it.